Desensitization
by ishileis
Summary: Expose yourself a lot with the cause of your agony and you will, later on, overcome it. [KisexOC]
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: the third KnB FF... but this is just a short one... :)**

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**Part I**

Kaede Hinowa is a normal teenage girl who has normal tastes and a normal lifestyle, and because she is that typical, like any mediocre girls, she fell in love with a popular guy who is loved by at least 85% of the girl's population in their school, that being said, she is perfectly aware of the fact that her chance to date or be even be recognized by this 'popular' boy is (1/ Total number of girls in school) × 0.85, mathematically speaking.

As she reminisces, there is one time, however, a one and only time that she was able to speak to said guy, that was in the freshmen opening ceremony, where she first laid eyes to Mr. Popular...

_'Whoa...Teiko Middle school...' Kaede thought, the school was quite appealing on its own, it has nice facilities for sports and acadaemics. 'Ohhh...certain club rooms are being announced, better get the numbers.' She rummaged her bag for her pencil and then adjusts her glasses before writing in the notepad._

_"Ahhh...Miss, do you have another pencil?" Kaede heard someone behind her talk, being a kind hearted girl, she fished out another pen and then passed it to the one in need, as soon as she glanced up, it was as if sparks flew, bubbles appeared out of nowhere as she stares at his honey colored eyes, his blonde hair and stunning smile. He politely gets the pen and said 'Thanks' then started scribbling, leaving her awestruck and forgetful of what she was supposed to do._

That was the time she's certain that she have started the inevitable infatuation for this blonde guy, she learned later on that his name was Kise Ryouta and he's a model, loved by every girl she have seen in campus. It was annoying, she was a fan too, but everytime she runs to his fan club, she gets thrown out like when there's a japanese lunch time rush. They were classmates, but she can't even get closer because when a free time comes, a flock of over decorated, revealing and wanton ladies gather around him.

That's why she knew there's no chance, no chance at all, however it got worst when he joined the basketball team, her fascination of him exceeds because she likes athletes, but of course if her infatuation excelled, his fans will also increase too, making it a lot more impossible to talk to him.

She's a fan of conventional sports so she's a member of the archery and kendo club and she's known to be good at both, its funny how she became better because she incorporated Kise in her every move, whenever she plays Kendo her vigor and hits increases when she thinks of her opponents as the girls of Kise fan club, sometimes because of that mentality, when she was first player in a kendo match she was able to win single handedly by thinking she was eliminating Kise fan club's annoying leaders, the same applies in archery.

But it was no use, still no contact, she was able to contain herself with his posters, magazines and advertisements and its up to that only...

"Hinowa!" She went out of her room because she was called by her elder sister. "Kasamatsu-kun's here!" That brought a smile to her face, Kasamatsu was her older brother like friend, they were neighbors for atleast 10 years. He has a somewhat violent tendency but very timid towards girls and she knows perfectly that her Matsu-nii likes her elder sister but can't ever tell her that.

"Oi, Hinowa!" He called and roughly pinched her cheek, he can do that to her but he will turn into mush if he ever thought of doing that to her elder sister, that would be embarassment overload on his part, she was a second year middle schooler, her sister and Matsu-nii are both first year high school students, though they go to different schools.

"You're a high schooler now, stop being a coward and tell nee-chan how you feel." Hinowa teased, and Kasamatsu's face was redder than a california tomato. "Joke!" That was her time to hit him hard on the back.

"You brat!" Kasamatsu roughly ruffled her hair and they started hitting each other.

Though inwardly, she could understand Kasamatsu, she, herself has no guts to even get one word based conversation with the, now she admits, love of her life and every girl's lives, Kise Ryouta.

Since there's no chance she decided to end this platonic relationship, after all the pain in her heart is caused by overvaluing an imaginary relationship with the person she likes. She decided to focus on her academics and extra curicullar activities, she tore off the posters in her room and planned to burn every magazine she bought that features him (Though she hid it because she can't really do that.)

She's not an excellent student but she was able to pass all of her subjects even if she was engrossed with, currently Kendo, that was already a major achievement for her. When third year came she decided to bury her feelings finally and asks her Matsu-nii some application forms because she will apply to Kaijo. She passed, Kasamatsu called her, rather vigorously.

It was their graduation ceremony, and she decided it'll be her last chance, like a ninja, she stealthily stalked Kise to ask for buttons, however, she was late, he was actually crying to his basketball mates, currently he's wearing torn clothing and he says he was raped by fan girls.

_It's really impossible..._ she thought, sighed to herself and decided, she'll probably find love in high school...

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**Part II**

**"**Matsu-nii! Stop that!" Kaede pulls his hand away from her head.

"You look like a girl now!" Kasamatsu teased, because she looks different with her hair usually long and black, turned into a bob cut one (with a perfect concavity and it reaches up to her chin) and she was wearing lip gloss. "You ate something greasy?"

"What?! of course, not!"

"I decided to do a little make over, but that's the limit of what she lets me do." Her sister came out and Kasamatsu suddenly became a beet root, Kaede adjusts her glasses and pushed Kasamatsu towards her sister and laughs at the two of them, she was hit on the head afterwards.

The school was amazing, and she's excited to join the Kendo club, seeing how the school was quite athletically inclined, she went to her class and then saw that her first one's chem lab, ohhhh...she loved experiments and all. Kaede sat on a blank seat near the window, its good she came exactly at the time before they started.

"Ok...since today's the first day...I have decided to give your lab partners and then you will have a partner introduction..." and then her teacher started announcing pairs and when he called Kaede, she swears she cleaned her ear right before class and she's sure she didn't take any drugs. "Miss Kaede, you're paired with Kise Ryouta...Is Mr. Kise here?"

She heard murmurs of her classmates blabbering how lucky she is and 'Kise-kun is hot, kyaa' she actually thought she heard someone casting a voodooo spell on her. Suddenly, the door slammed open revealing blonde hair and a panting, exhausted pretty face.

"Sorry sensei, I got lost." He said with an apologetic smile that made half of the female population in the room faint, Kaede would but she's too surprised for that. Her eyes trailed him as he walks to talk to the sensei, she didn't even notice that he was already directed to sit next to her, and the fact that he's her classmate, not to mention lab partner, where they would be required to atleast have scholarly conversations with each other.

_What the hell? Now that I've already decided to start moving on, this happens...oh my God! _Kaede stared blankly at her lab manual as she was piecing together what's happening...

"Hi! I'm Kise Ryouta, your lab partner and you are..." she glanced up and was surprised to see him in front of her with all smiles and well...with a very close distance that she can smell his nostalgic perfume, and be dazzled by his luminous appearance, lucky for her, his eyes were closed and her face, going to 100% red alert, wasn't noticed, She can't hold her embarassment that's why her fist suddenly clenched and when he opened his eyes, her fist made contact with his face making him stumble down. He was sitting on the ground, when Kaede realized what she just did, she instantly helped him up, fortunately for her, their teacher went out for a while... but the scene was exposed among all his fans and they were probably looking for a death note to write her name on it.

"Owww..." Kise said as he stood up, he glanced at his lab partner and she was standing at least a foot away from him.

"I'm sorry, I j-just have some claustrophobic issues...it's t-too close..." she gave out a smile, distance is a good thing for her now, they'll need to work hand in hand but at least her mind's diverted, but in simple times when they'll be forced to chat with each other to kill boredom, she'll have to be atleast one foot away from him.

"Ehhh?"

"You should stay at least one foot away from me, or else..." she lets out her Kendo sword that was concealed in a long black sheat. "You'll be pounded into submission." She said that with a poker smile, to hide her nervousness and embarassment, she needs to move on! Damn it , it'll take a new generation for him to even date her, so she'll have to get him out if her head. Three years of unrequited love's enough, she needs to think of herself now.

**Part III**

They say that exposing yourself with the allergen multiple times can remove hypersensitive reactions, the technique is called 'desensitization' and in Kaede Hinowa's mind, that could work, her long time unrequited love for Kise Ryouta can be demolished if she exposed herself to him.

Lucky for her, he followed the 'one foot' rule so she can converse nicely with him (she placed a ruler between them) and sometimes it makes her realize how stupid he is, especially in his arguments, anyways experiments are getting harder to do with distance so she tends to do all the work and mostly lets him watch and learn or sometimes she divides the work and do one on their own, so much for partnership.

Kise Ryouta's childish and a whiner, he tends to complain about her claustrophobia issue (which is nonexistant) and tells her to see a phobia expert, she'll just smile at him and brush him off. Sometimes he gets too talkative that she wants to smack him, ironically, she actually yearned for him to talk this much to her for a long time.

Kasamatsu told her that Kise's their basketball team's ace and he tells her how annoyed he is with the blonde, its a good thing for her that she didn't tell her Matsu-nii about her secret crush on Kise or else, hell will break loose, especially because of how he points out girl's weird fascination with the dumb boy, however Kasamatsu acknowledges Kise's talent and somehow when the third year describes Kise, she can't help but regain some of the lost feelings she had already dispelled.

"Neh...Matsu-nii, Nee-chan told me that a guy confessed to her." Kaede said and the basketball captain almost choked on his drink. "But she rejected the guy because she said she likes someone already..."

"R-really?" Kasamatsu slowly said, currently they were in the cafeteria, having some snacks.

"Yeah...you should ask her out now, Matsu-nii! You know I root for you."

"B-but your sister said she already like someone else, idiot!" Kasamatsu drinks again from his glass of juice.

"I think she likes you." Kaede smirked as Kasamatsu almost sputter his juice. "I have tickets to the movie she likes to watch, I'll tell her that you want me to give the other one to her."

"C-crazy! Don't even think of doing that!" He slammed his fist on the table.

"Too late, already bought the tickets." She smirked again waving the tickets on her hand. "Come on, you won't know if you don't even try." Kasamatsu suddenly grabbed the tickets from her, the action surprised her.

"I-I'll ask her out..." Kasamatsu looked away, his face was brilliantly red and Kaede found that really amusing about him.

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A/N: I know its a typical and ordinary story but I really enjoyed writing it...I was supposed to put this on my Midorima ff, but I figured Kise's character will fit the guy here,


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: this is Kise-centric...**

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**Part IIII**

It was the day after their practice match with Seirin when Kise saw Kaede as someone else. He was thinking about Kuroko's choice, words and his intentions and then he passed by a dojo. Kaijo seemed so high tech and modern so it surprised him to see a dojo , he decided to check just a little and since the place is a bit secluded, he could hide from his fans, seriously, sometimes he gets a headache with their constant following. He even changed number multiple times and he swears he has the feeling that a secret camera's implanted in his house.

Kise peaked and saw mostly men hitting each other with wooden sticks, they were wearing some hard shoulder pads, chest armor and a weird helmet. He leans on the entrance door frame and decided to watch for a while.

"Three points" a referee said and raised a mini flag. "Winner, Kaede." He announced and the winner removed the helmet, he was surprised to see his claustrophobic lab partner, Kaede Hinowa as she bows to her opponent and then to the referee before she excused herself and sat on a bench nearby.

_Kaede? Kaede's into Kendo?_ He was about to move further but noticed a familiar flock of girls coming nearby. Kise stopped watching and decided to walk again, feeling novel as he discovered something, well...he knew she could be a player of that sport because she carries the wooden stick sometimes, but seeing her actual game surprised him, Kaede was good, he can tell.

* * *

"You're part of the Kendo team, Kaedechii~" Kise teased as he sits beside her.

"Ehhh? Kaedechii, that's disgusting! Remove that suffix." Kaede said.

"Also..why are you with Kasamatsu-senpai, Kaedecchi?" Kise asked because he saw them talking to each other at lunch time.

"Well..." she can't think of an answer, so as a scapegoat, she opened her lab manual and started writing some things.

"But Kaedechii..." Kise decided to sneak at what she's doing and then he moved closer, as in closer to peak at the lab manual. "You're doing the answer sheet already?"

"Yes, so that we could finish early later." She said as she answers, however she felt something slightly tug at her shoulder so she glanced at her side and saw Kise, again, breaking the one foot rule and was one cm close to her face, he was looking at the worksheet and humming as he checks on the answers. Heat rose to her face and she instantly hit him in the gut using her elbow pushing him away from her.

"Owww! Kaedechii, what's with that? Are you still claustrophobic of me? We've been partners for a month now." Kise rubbed the elbowed part and sat on his seat again.

"Just follow the rule and we'll be okay." She said, her eyes dead lock on the lab manual again. Her attitude confuses him sometimes, she's nice and cute but when he closes their distance a bit, she gets all edgy and hits him with anything that her hand can make out, sometimes her hits are worse than his captain's.

"You seem fine with Kasamatsu-senpai..." and she intensified her glare at him. _Is Kasamatsu-senpai a sensitive topic for her?_

He decided to watch her practice during their break time, again, until it became a habit, of course, it was also beneficial for him because the dojo entrance seemed to be his hiding place, the only place he could go away from fans, from autographs and some stalkers. The Kendo club only have selected days of practice but she's always there.

One time when Kise was about to head to the dojo, he saw his captain, somehow on his way there too. Being a sneaky one, he decided to hide near a tree and spy on Kasamatsu. The third year stood in front of the entrance, Kaede came out after a while and Kasamatsu ruffled her hair making the girl annoyed at him.

_Ehhh? Isn't cap too close to Kaedechii?_ Kise thought as the two people he's watching laugh at each other, he knows that his captain's not doing well with girls but he seems fine with his lab partner.

'So 5pm, saturday in front of the town plaza?' Kaede said and Kise heard that. _They're going on a date? _ He saw his captain stutter something inaudible for him while Kaede cackles at his reaction.

**Part V**

Kise was on his way home from a sports shop, the truth is, its really difficult and dangerous for him in public places right now, girls suddenly flock on him and ask for pictures and autographs, it's fine, really, but things just get delayed if he must stop to entertain them every once in a while. He ceased his stroll when he saw someone familiar to him, that someone is currently behind high grass, seemingly hiding and is peaking at something in front of her, he glanced at his watch and then remembered that '**someone who's hiding**' has a date at 5pm, if he heard correctly, that someone _or rather she, _stood up and dusted her pants but her eyes were still looking at the same spot.

Somehow, Kise got interested with her cerulean eyes, they have a hint of happiness on it but seemed quite sad, he wants to call her but Kaede might run away, so he decided to check on what she's looking and he was really surprised to see his captain talking with another girl, afterwards he went inside with her in the cinema. Kise was actually surprised and concerned for his classmate right now.

"Kise-kun?" He heard her call, she must have seen him staring in front as well. "W-what are you doing here?"

"I'm from a sports shop." He answered, somehow he took note of her teary eyes. "I just saw captain with another girl."

"Yeah, that's my sister." When he heard her answer, he wanted to comfort her. _That's like the worst thing ever!_

"Kaedecchi?"

"I know they've liked each other for a long time but they're just too stupid not to admit it." He watched as she looked at the empty space in front of her.

"Can I ask you something, Kaedechii?" He wanted to ask a lot of things actually, like 'why do you always avoid me?' but figures he should encourage her right now.

"Yes?"

"If you have so much lingering feelings for someone, why don't you snatch him away? even if he's currently in love with a person close to you..." that's bad, he knows, but if you love someone, you should fight until the end, right? "A love where you can only look at the other person is really futile."

"Both person are important to me, right?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "If I have to break the happiness of the people I love, I'd rather hurt alone than do that."

Somehow Kise stood on his spot, surprised with her answer, he's adored by a lot of people but he's not sure if he have felt that way...if he have felt selflessly in love, he stares at the girl in front of him and a smile crept on his face then he walks up to her. "But that's too bad, what if he's the only one destined to have a relationship with you, Kaedecchi? Won't you be worried to be single for the rest of your life?" He teased and somehow that annoys the girl in front of him.

"Arrogant! Just because you're loved by a lot of girls!"

"Being loved and falling in love are two different things, right?" Kise grinned and then walked closer to her suddenly slinging an arm at her shoulder and said "The one you love is lucky, Kaedecchiii~" she looked up to him and he was staring down at her at the same time.

Somehow he felt there's something that happened with that staring contest, because he felt his heart race faster than usual however, Kaede suddenly kicked him in the shin and ran away bellowing 'Too close, Idiot!' and she disappeared from his sight but left him half in pain and half in amusement.

**Replay (Re-evaluation, Kaede-centric)**

Kaede glanced at her watch, she feels nervous, her plan must succeed this time, She watched Kasamatsu from across the town plaza near a tree and some tall bushes. _He looks edgy, Haha._ Kaede thought as she watched the third year pace right and left, probably rehearsing his confession methods.

She checks her phone to see if her sister texted something, and she placed it back her pocket when she got nothing. Kaede smirked as she remembered her sister's reaction when Kasamatsu gave the tickets, both of their faces were like the glowing red light of a police car.

"Kasamatsu-kun." Kaede heard that familiar voice so she hid behind the tall grass. That was her sister, with a bright smile, running towards the guy, she watched as the two of them talk to each other and Kasamatsu getting all shy and fidgety.

_"Good for you..." _ she sniffed, ever since they were little, she knew of this infatuation and she honestly wants to cry at this moment, and she did. Kaede wiped a tear off her eye. _'Sis is so lucky to have someone like Matsu-nii...I wonder, when will I meet the right person for me? ...well...they say that in order to love someone, I should empty this heart of mine..._ she stood up and dusted her pants, her eyes still in front of her. However, when she looked at her left, she saw someone standing, eyes also fixated at the space previously occupied by the two lovebirds.

"Kise-kun?" _Is God playing with me right now? _ "W-what are you doing here?"

"I'm from a sports shop." He looked surprised but he was staring at her. "I just saw captain with another girl."

"Yeah, that's my sister." She answered, she wonders how Kasamatsu will react if he knew that his annoying member saw him having first date blues.

"Kaedecchi?" She looked at him, feeling irritated with that nickname.

"I know they've liked each other for a long time but they're just too stupid not to admit it." She stared in front of the plaza again.

"Can I ask you something, Kaedechii?" Kaede glanced at him, somehow his voice sounded different, serious, not like his usual playful one.

"Yes?"

"If you have so much lingering feelings for someone, why don't you just snatch him away? even if he's currently in love with a person close to you..." his question surprised her, then his eyes changed from playful to domineering _attractive_ ones. " A love where you can only look at the other person is really futile."

'_Is he talking about my feelings for him? Why put a logic like that though? Is he in love with a friend of mine...impossble, if he knew my feelings he wouldn't talk to me like this and he'll treat me like an annoying fan' _she looked at him. "Both person are important to me, right?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "If I have to break the happiness of the people I love, I'd rather hurt alone, than do that." She said looking down at her feet.

"But that's too bad, what if he's the only one destined to have a relationship with you, Kaedecchi? Won't you be worried to be single for the rest of your life?" He said in a teasing tone. _'Grrr! Where's the Kendo stick when you need it?!_

"Arrogant! Just because you're loved by a lot of girls!"

"Being loved and falling in love are two different things, right?" He answered with a smile that she thinks will be more powerful to use on her when she needs a defibrillator, it can make her heart beat again, that smile that sends shiver down to her spine, it was so amazing that she have to look away to hide her embarassment.

Kise grinned and then walked closer to her suddenly slinging an arm at her shoulder and said "The one you love is lucky, Kaedecchiii~" she looked up to him and he was staring down at her at the same time.

When their eyes met, it was like she was shot in the heart and everything around her stopped. Isn't this what she was yearning for? Isn't his attention the one she longs for? Isn't his heart the one she wanted to capture? Having this thoughts was huting her because it makes her hopes high and she knows what she wished for... will never come true.

Kaede kicked him in the shin "You're too close, Idiot!" When he was forced to let go, she stormed off, she looked back and saw him still looking at her, with a smile. Her hand crept up to her chest. _'Please...Stop, Just stop.'_

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A/N: this is like a summary type story, so lesser dialogues... sorry if its a bit fast paced hahaha. :)


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: This has a dialogue, yehey! I'm not sure how Kendo selection goes...I just read a manga about this. Expect some OOOcness!

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**Part VI**

"Kaedecchi~ that chem test is horrible!" Kise said as he rests his head on the table.

"Yeah...I admit, its difficult." Kaede answered as she leans her chin on the palm of her hand, Kise was watching her and then suddenly he poked her in the cheek causing the girl's head to fall off her arm. "What the - "

"Neh, Kaedecchi, Why don't you ban that stupid rule?" Kise asked.

"Because I have claustrophobia."

"No, you don't. You seem fine with Captain."

"Because as I said, I know Matsu-nii since childhood." The teacher came inside the classroom and gave a few announcements before she dismissed them. Kaede stood up and fixed her materials, putting them inside her bag.

"Kaedecchi, let's have lunch together." Kise suggested, his head still resting on the table but his eyes were staring at her.

"I don't eat at the cafeteria because its always crowded and I'm claustrophobic." She emphasized the word 'claustrophobic' and then slings her bag on her shoulder and started to walk ahead of him.

"Wait Kaedecchi!" When Kise stood up, he was immediately ganged up by a group of girls and Kaede left.

_'No way in hell, Kise...Not this time.'_

* * *

_'The one you love is lucky, Kaedecchi~' _Damn that last phrase kept ringing on her head. Kaede was annoyed, exasperated and desperate and this three feelings caused her to crash her wooden sword on the training bag, and she was yelling loudly, anyone can see that she's not the type you want to start a fight with.

_'Kise!' _ She kept on repeating that mantra inside her head while she mercilessly hit the training bag, but she was good, everyone stopped and watched her hit her target with vigor and accuracy.

"Kaede-san." She stopped when she heard her name called, she glanced at her caller with her eyes still on fire, however she lay lowed when she saw the guy flinch. "Aahhh... sorry, have I disturbed you?"

"No Mitsuo-senpai, I'm sorry...I got caught up in a moment, is there something you want me to do?" Kaede removed her glasses and wiped it before wearing it again. This Mitsuo is a regular member and is one of the five players in Kendo competitions.

"I'm just happy to see you practice...As you can see, there're only few female members in Kendo club and you have the skill and caliber of a first player."

"Thank you...I do play Kendo since Middle school."

"That's amazing." Kaede was surprised when Mitsuo tapped her in the shoulder. "Continue your hardwork." before passing by her. Kaede was rooted on her spot, somehow that simple gesture made her heart beat quicker, like the guy just woke something inside of her.

**Part VII**

"Kaedecchi?" Kise stared at his lab partner, as of now, her head is supported by the palm of her hand and she was staring into space. "Kaedecchi? Oi...Are you ignoring me?"

The truth is her mind is anywhere right now except in the lab. _'Maybe I can move on if I started to see other people...Mitsuo-senpai's not bad anyway.'_

"Okay, that's all for today, you can submit your manuals at my desk at exactly 1400, alright?" Their teacher said before she exited the room, Kaede brushed her thought for a while and started skimming her lab manual searching for some blanks, she felt relief when she sees to it that she finished her reports.

"Kaedecchi." She's still annoyed with that childish nickname, she sighed and gazed at her lab partner. "Heh." He flashed her his brightest smile, and it jabbed her in the heart, she instantly looked away.

"What do you want?"

"Can I copy your lab manual? We just have the same results on the experiment anyway...neh, Kaedecchi?" She, irritated, glanced at him and he's still with his dashing smile that made imaginary flowers bloom on her mind, she slammed her lab manual on his face. "Owww! That hurts, Kaedecchi!"

"Give it back to me before 2pm in front of the faculty room." She said before she picked up her bag and stormed out of the room. _'Sometimes, I doubt the reason why I fell in love with this moron...'_

Around 1:55, Kaede was already in front of the faculty room, arms crossed, eyes shut, feet taps frantically on the floor and right now, she feels half annoyed and half nervous as she watched her classmates come and go, bringing their seat works to their chem teacher and yet, she can't spot a certain blonde.

Four minutes later Kise came and Kaede snatched both manuals from him before she dashed inside the faculty room, she succeeded in submitting exactly at 1400, _whew..._ She went out of the faculty room and an apologetic Kise was waiting for her outside, as soon as he sees her he paced towards her.

"Kaedecchi! I'm sorry, I alm - " he was cut off as he felt something thin hit him in the gut, he looked down and saw a ruler, Kaede was holding the ruler.

"One foot rule." She said, knowing Kise's flamboyant attitude, he might get too close to her.

"Oww...Even here." Kise asked as he rubbed the beaten part. Kaede nods before she started walking away from the faculty, Kise followed while maintaining the 'one foot rule' between them. They were on their way back to the classroom when they came across two chatting girls, Kaede noticed their stares at Kise so she made slow sidesteps to increase their distance and to avoid confusion among other people.

"Oh!" However when they were adjacent two them, one of the girls dropped her handkerchief.

Kise continued walking, as if he didn't see the falling handkerchief while Kaede watched as the crestfallen girl look at the handkerchief. "How rude." Kaede said and stopped walking, making the blonde model stop too.

"What?" He asked, surprised by her abrupt stop, he looked inquisitively at her, while Kaede rolled her eyes and walked up to the girl. She picked up the girl's handkerchief and gave it back to her, the girl looked sadly at Kaede and muttered a low 'thanks' before she walked with the other girl with her.

Kaede watched the two of them disappear before turning around to proceed on her classroom, when she did turn around Kise was standing behind her, a look of curiosity marring his face. "What was that? Can't she pick her handkerchief?"

"You have no idea about this, don't you?" Kaede asked and Kise raised a brow at her statement, she sighed and continued to stroll. "Sometimes, girls do some stuffs, you know? Like, drop a hanky, a notebook or anything, then the guy will pick it up for her...Its a way to get someone's attention, its a way to start a communication." she reminisces the time she did that but her handkerchief got trampled by a dozen of Kise fans.

"Eh? Really?"

"You really are clueless." Kaede said. "Well, of course you are, you never needed to get anyone's attention...they're easily yours anyway..."

"Kaedecchi..." Kise pouted, he's not sure if he should take that as a compliment or something negative.

"But I understand her feelings completely...wanting someone you like to notice you." She said with a smile before they entered their classroom.

**Part VIII**

"You're really amazing." Kaede looked up and saw Mitsuo-senpai. "I heard the match for regularization is near, you could apply."

"Eh? Regularization? That means I'll be entering matches?"

"Yes." Mitsuo replied. "You'll choose a regular to challenge for his position."

"That's cool." Kaede said.

"Yeah...you're cool too." He said making the girl blush. _He called me cool! "_I'm sure you'll get in easily."

The next day the two of them had training together, sometimes they chatted more often than their other teammates, and Kaede thinks she's probably liking this upperclassman of hers, they even walk home together, occasionally, he even asked for her number and e-mailed her most of the time. She was pondering, how uncomplicated things are going between the two of them... then she remembers some quote from the television 'Love that you ventured after a failed one is termed a '_rebound_'. Somehow its unfair, but the feeling's also strong that it helps alleviate the pain you had previously.

"Oi Hinowa." Kaede glanced behind and saw her Matsu-nii approaching. "What's with you and that guy?" The two of them were in front of the cafeteria and he was specifically pointing towards Mitsuo.

"What? Nothing." She shrugged. "So we're gonna be siblings now! 'Cuz you're officially dating nee-chan~"

"D-D-don't change the topic!" Kasamatsu stuttered. "Anyway, that guy's not really someone you should hang out with."

"Why? I think Mitsuo-senpai's nice." Kaede answered and Kasamtsu pinched her cheek. Rough as usual. " Owww! Let go, Matsu-nii!" She tries to swat his hand away.

Kise was walking in the hallway followed by his fan club, he was laughing with all of the girls but somehow the scene in front of him, ceased him from walking. He stared at Kaede and his captain, the girl wears a pained expression while rubbing her cheek while the latter was scolding her nonstop. He shrugged, this is the type of relationship his lab partner likes, so that's her choice.

* * *

In Chemistry, they were having some effervescence experiment and they were using Carbonic acid, she was busy checking for bubbles when suddenly Kise's mixture in the beaker, bubbled up and overflowed in the place.

"Kaedecchi, look its - "

"Move aside, Kise." Kaede said checking for his beaker to find out what caused the over bubbling, unconsciously, she herself broke the 'one foot rule', she pushed him slightly to go on his place, lifted the beaker and saw a mint candy in it. "You placed a candy here, Kise...that started the reaction." Kaede gazed at his partner and she saw him smirking.

"Aren't you too close, Kaedecchi?" Kise remarked, grinning like an idiot and he was telling the truth since she noticed her shoulder's almost touching his arm. _'He's right...' _ she thought, usually if this happens, she'll be super self conscious and well...violent, but she seems alright now. _'Is it really because of that rebound thing?'_

"Well, I need to check this, that's why." She answered, turning her back to him again. Using forceps, she removed the candy and placed new Carbonic acid mixture in it. "You should let the liquid convert into gas itself...well get an 'F' if you fail with a simple task like that."

"Well, I was doing an experiment of my own, Kaddecchi! And now, I'm banning that rule." Kise said proudly as he takes the beaker from her and swirls it.

"I made that rule, so I'm the only one who can repel it." She moved away from him, placing a ruler between them again.

"But Kaedecchi! You're not claustrophobic of me now, right?"

"Yeah." She answered flatly. "I suppose."

"Geez...How about we cut the space into half? Like I can't be near you within half a foot range."

"..."

"Come on Kaedecchi, life's easier that way."

"Well...OK, we can amend that to 'Half foot rule', doing experiments will be easier, I guess. " Kaede said and she was surprised when Kise gets the ruler and then broke it into half, he places back the half between them. "Just...what did you do?!"

"Break the ruler?"

"Why did you do that?! That's our ruler in chem class!"

"Ehhh? B-but I thought it's yours Kaedecchi!" Kaede hits his head with the other half of the ruler and told him to buy a new one.

* * *

"Kaede-san...the regularization match is next week, have you chose a regular to challenge?" Mitsuo handed a bottled mineral water to Kaede, she was polishing her kendo sword and was sitting on the mat when he approached her.

"Not yet, Mitsuo-senpai, I don't think I'm ready yet."

"Nonsense...you're awesome." He smiled at her and she felt her heart jump out of her chest for a moment. "Uhhh, yeah...I before I forget, I'm going to ask you something."

"Yes?"

"Are you free this weekend?"

"W-weekend?!" She almost dropped her glasses when she heard him say that.

"Yeah, weekend...uhhh let's try that newly opened Yakinuku shop near the plaza."

_He asked me out! _"Sure...I don't have anything else to do." Though she replied that nonchalantly, Inwardly, she's melting, haha.

Starting that day, Kaede's floating, she was smiling all the time, even Kise's not oblivious with this sudden change in her, he doesn't mind about that anyway and he thinks its fine. It was a first for her, because she was focused with her infatuation with Kise, she never felt something like this, being 'liked' that is.

However, it seems that nothing lasts forever. At least for her, that is...

Kaede was walking in the corridors, she was from the faculty room as she submitted her application for the regularization match. While strolling, she saw Mitsuo and some of his classmates talking, they were behind a staircase, she was planning to greet him nonetheless...

"You had a cute member in the Kendo club." One of the senpais said. "The chick with the glasses."

"Oh you meant Kaede? Yeah, she's pretty and she's good with the sport too, I mean really good, like national level good." Mitsuo said, somehow Kaede smiled, he thinks highly of her. "She's probably better than I am."

"So you think she can kick out that Yuuya guy?" One guy said. She remembers her senpai who was labelled as the saviour of the team, he was the regular that's always designated as the last player because he was dependable enough to win the game on his own, Yuuya-senpai, he was also known to be very, very strict.

"I hope so...that's the reason I asked her out, I'll convince her to challenge Yuuya, that's like hitting two birds with one stone, my place's secured, so long as she doesn't challenge me..."

"You asked her? Aren't you dating that pretty girl from 3-C?"

"Yeah...who says I'm dating her? I just need her for that." Kaede's breath hitched, her back rested on the wall, she wanted to break down but she could be discovered so she immediately changed route so as to avoid them. She should've known its impossible, everything seemed hasty and easy.

She went back to their classroom feeling betrayed, its like the world's crumbling and everything's breaking... so much for expecting, so much for trying to fall in love and moving on. She sat on her chair contemplating why she let herself fall that way, was it because she's desperate to erase Kise off her mind.

"Kaedecchi?" Kise called her, seeing how distracted she was, but she didn't heed to him, her eyes lack luster and was staring into space. He stood up and walked up to her. "Kaedecchi?" His hand was about to tap her shoulder but she thumps it away from her.

"Don't..." she just said, not bothering to glance at him. Kise sighed and returned to his seat, she might be experiencing something.

After class, Kaede didn't move from her seat even if her classmates went out already, she was staring out the window. She plucks her phone from her pocket and decided to e-mail Mitsuo-senpai that she can't come, she grasped her phone tightly and a tear fall from her eye, though she immediately wiped it not wanting to bear any mark of weakness in her face. Of course, she's not that good anyway, there's always someone better than her, there will always be someone ahead of her, just the thought makes her heart ache.

She still did well in practice and she pretended to be clueless in front if Mitsuo, but the fact that she knew what he's up to and he pretends in front of her, that's just too much to bear. She immediately went out of the Dojo as soon as their practice ends.

"Ooops...I dropped it." She was taken by surprise. Kise was beside her and seemingly his notebook fell. "Ahhh, it fell." He said, not showing a hint of picking it up.

"Yeah, your notebook fell." She answered back, not in the mood for a conversation with him.

"Tch. How rude." He pouted and Kaede looked up to him.

"Why is that rude? You dropped it."

"And I thought you said people do this to have someone's attention." Kise smiled, Kaede was astonished with his reply. "I want someone's attention, right now."

_'Well at least that made her smile'_ Kise thought as the girl in front of her timidly smiled, she picked up the notebook and gave it to him.

"I said girls do that." She said as he gets the notebook. "I hope you got that someone's attention." She walks ahead again, but he followed.

"Are you taking the train home, Kaedecchi?" Kise asked as he runs to catch up with her. "Let's go home together?"

"No need." She replied but she did took the train ride with him, He was standing beside her and she was sitting.

"Kaedecchi?" Kise said but the girl didn't look up, she bit her lip and decided to release her frustration at home but her tears are annoying, she should've listened to her Matsu-nii. "Don't hold it in, Kaedecchi." She was surprised to hear him say that.

"W-what are you talking about?"

"I don't know what happened but I know you're hurt, you've been ecstatic some days ago and then you suddenly became gloomy, so I figured..."

"I'm that readable." She smiled, but she removed her glasses and Kise saw drops of tears falling from her eyes, he looked around and sees people looking at her, so like what a gentleman will do, he moved from his position and stood up in front of her, shielding her from unwanted spectators. She was surprised to see him standing there.

"Don't worry, Kaedecchi...I maintained the half foot rule." She was sure that he's smiling, but she didn't want to look up and expose her tear stricken face to him, she continued to cry though.

_'This should be embarassing... but somehow I don't care, I just need to let this go.' _Now she knows why she did like this guy, unfortunately for her...moving on from Kise will be a lot more harder now.

"Hey..." She looked up before she goes out of the train. "You're right...Let's ban the half foot rule."

Kise smiled at her. "Really, Kaedecchi!?" She nods but gets irritated again with his pestering.

* * *

"So who are you challenging for regularization?" Yuuya asked Kaede.

"Mitsuo-senpai." She said and bowed before she looked, discerningly, at that certain senpai who was surprised with her decision. "I challenge him for regular position."

* * *

A/N: it was supposed to be a one shot written by parts, that's why there's the **Part etc...** hehe... lasttwochaps :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Part IX**

"Wait, what? Kaede closed the book she was reading; currently she's inside her older sister's room. "You and Matsu-nii are not yet dating?"

"Well…" Her sister blushed. "He didn't ask me yet? It's like we just went out on a usual friend outing. I'm quite embarrassed to ask him on Saturday for that group date my classmates set."

"Matsu-nii's crazy!" Kaede sighed. "Maybe that buffoon will need some help on this." Kaede looked around and saw something familiar, it's a Zunon boy magazine, she picked it up. "Is this yours, sis?"

"Oh? It's my classmate's, she left it here last time, and she's a fan of the cover boy." And miraculously the cover boy is none other than, Kise Ryouta. Suddenly, an idea popped out of Kaede's head.

"I'll make Matsu-nii confess, don't worry." Kaede smiled at her sister and went out of her room.

* * *

"Oi, I heard from Yuuya that you're playing in the Sports meet as a regular." Kasamatsu met with Kaede in the cafeteria; however the latter was glaring at him the moment they saw each other. "O-Oi…What happened?"

"Don't you give me the 'what happened' crap! I even greeted you!" Kaede exclaimed.

"What are you talking about?"

"And I thought we'll be official siblings now, Matsu-nii!"

"What are you talking about?" Kasamatsu got annoyed so he ruffled her hair roughly.

"You didn't ask nee-chan to be your girlfriend yet!" Kaede whacked his hand away, Kasamatsu turned red the moment he remembered about that and Kaede sighed. "Matsu-nii, A girl can never wait long, especially nee-chan's standard." _I can, because I'm not nee-chan's standard, never mind…_

"T-that's b-be-because…y-your sister – " Kasamtsu stuttered.

"Never mind, Sister's picking me up here later because we'll buy something on the station."

"I-I see…" Kasamatsu looked away.

"Ehhh! Are you getting nervous? How scared are you of girls, anyway? Just think of nee-chan like me."

"No…That's impossible." Kasamatsu said. "Your sister is way in a different level."

"I know that, but seriously Matsu-nii..."Kaede breathes out then left him, she was annoyed with him for being so anxious but she has a viable idea to make her Matsu-nii confess, _Wahahaha._

**Part X**

Kaede never thought a day will come that she won't be glad, Kise was laughing with her, actually he told her a joke that caused him to laugh and her to wonder if he'll ever have a chance to join variety shows, he needs to stay as a model only, She was getting this 'Desensitization' thing and it is having a good effect on her, her defiance of him was disappearing and she's actually capable of having a decent conversation with him, she can also do experiments comfortably now.

However this week, they weren't meeting much because he's sometimes excused for Interhigh competitions, well she will be once the schedule of the Inter school Kendo match is announce, she won the place from the phony Mitsuo-senpai, so she's the third player, the only girl in their team, she doesn't care, that only means she's that awesome.

"Kaedecchi! You seem energetic today?" Kise comments as soon as he sat beside her. She looked up at him and smiled then went back to reading her book. "What is that? Assignment?"

"Yes, we're going to have a recitation today." Kaede said not looking up from her book.

"What? Are you serious?!" Kise rummaged his bag immediately, searching for his chemistry book. "Ahhh! I forgot it."

"Tch. At least remember to bring your books if you can't do assignments." Kaede sighed, it's probably because of his Inter high games, athletes like him tend to forget about academics when they put their mind to their sport.

She pushed her book towards him. "I've finished." She rested her chin on her hands. Kise reached for the book and crammed, hoping that the question he gets will be something he could at least remember from this skimming.

When their teacher came Kaede reached out to retrieve the book from Kise, but the latter was hugging it tightly begging for another five minutes, he was even crying, Kaede exhaled but she lets him hog on her textbook. The recitation commenced and Kise was asked about something regarding the formula of molarity, with a bit of his charm he was given a 10 seconds delay to glance secretly at the book and lucky for him, that was the page he left the book so he smiled and said "units of moles of solute per litre of solution" and the teacher nods giving him a score.

Kaede was asked to solve something, Kise looked horrified and it perplexed her why, she solved the stoichiometry problem perfectly and it puzzled her again to see Kise looking relieved now when she sat back on her chair.

"I'm worried you won't get that." Kise said and Kaede pinched his ear, talk about their level of mental capacity, of course hers was higher. "But seriously, you're my savior! I'll need to pay you back for that."

"Technically speaking, my book is your hero, not me."

"But you brought the book, so you're still the one."

"Ok." Then she remembered something. "Hey, you want a pay back, right?"

"Yeah!" Kise replied, rather enthusiastically.

"Anything will do?" Kaede asked.

"Anything-ssu."

"Ok." Kaede placed the book back in her bag and glanced at him again.

"That's it for today, those who failed the recitation will have a second chance at the experiment tomorrow. Class, Dismissed." The teacher said then went out of the room.

"So what is it, Kaedecchi?" Kise asked her, while she wears the straps of her back bag.

"Oh yeah…Are you free tomorrow? Let's meet up in front of the plaza, uhmmm around 10 am?." She said.

"E-eehhh? t-tomorrow?" Kise was flabbergasted and she nodded. "Sure!" Kaede bid goodbye then, she didn't actually expect him to say 'yes' especially that they just started to get along but she needs to do this.

She wasn't aware that time that eyes are already at her… after the lunch break at their classroom, she saw her spare glasses broken, or rather, smashed and was placed at her table, she sighed…Hinowa isn't new to this so she knows exactly what happened, she made a mental note to get contact lenses tomorrow.

Later, her elder sister did picked her up from school, She's also wearing her uniform and they decided to walk home together today because they will buy something from the station, her sister studies at an all girl's school, Hinowa was supposed to study there too, but she didn't want to be in an environment where all that surrounds her are girls especially if she's somehow athletically inclined.

"Nee-chan? Are you looking for Matsu-nii?" Hinowa asked when she saw her sister always looking behind her. "Do you want to go inside?"

"N-no! He's busy, right? I've heard the inter high preliminaries just finished so they're probably preparing." Her sister said marring quite a gloomy face.

"Yoh!" but of course, Kaede's smart so she have called Matsu-nii, he knows her sister is coming today but was surprised to see her already there, that's probably the reason why he looked like someone who accidentally ate wasabi. "H-Hitomi?"

"Ahh, Kasamatsu-kun." Her sister greeted.

"W-what are you doing here?"

"I told you, we're going home together today." Kaede then pointed the magazine her sister was holding, the Zunon Boy. "She also told me she wants to see Kise Ryouta."

"Ehhh? I told – " Hinowa tugged her sister's blouse. "Y-yeah, I'm a fan."

"Kise? Oh? Isn't he you're classmate?" Kasamatsu said. "He's also a team mate."

"I see." Hitomi nods.

"Don't worry sis…I asked him to meet you tomorrow!" Hinowa smiled knowingly and glanced at Kasamatsu. "Tomorrow, 10am at the plaza…For a gokkun."

"G-gokkun?" Kasamatsu asked again. "Hitomi's going to a Gokkun?"

"Yes, Matsu-nii and sis is bringing Kise, unless someone voluntary comes…" Kaede slings an arm to her sister. "Let's go sis and ready you for tomorrow."

"A-Ahhh…Yeah." And Kaede pulled her sister away from Kasamatsu, when they were very far away from Kaijo, her sister asked "Is that effective?"

"We'll see tomorrow, but it will be, believe me."

* * *

The next day, Hinowa and Hitomi are waiting in the plaza, Hitomi's friends are already inside, the older of the girls was getting nervous. "I don't think he's coming…"

"Nah, Matsu-nii's just late." Hinowa said while she pulled her bicycle.

"What if he didn't come?" Hitomi asked.

"Then Kise Ryouta will be your date." Kaede said, though she's not sure he'll go with that, but he wants to have a pay back so he'll have to bear with this and besides, her sister's a hot shot so he'll probably even thank her for that but if that ever happen she'll probably be the one to be _heartbroken?_

"Ahhh, Kise's there." Kaede points across them as she saw her classmate already there, lucky for her a flock of girls formed a stampede and asked for his autograph.

"He's really good looking." Her sister said and Hinowa felt quite nervous, _Oh gosh! Don't tell me I'm the one who ruined Matsu-nii and neechan's relationship…_

"Hitomi." Right, speak of the devil, the main protagonist came and Hinowa watched as her sister's eyes sparkled. "I'm sorry b-but, W-will I-I be okay, i-instead of K-Kise?" Kasamatsu, the king of stutters! He should undergo therapy, but he seems sadistic towards the male population.

"Yes! You're more than okay." Hinowa was very glad to see them looking at each other with imaginary butterflies sprouting everywhere and honestly they look like middle schoolers who discovered love exists. She glanced at Kise who probably needs some help to get away from the flock of fans, she decided, she owes him one so she helped him out by throwing a grenade, joke…she'll kill him too if she does that.

"Kise!" she just called because there is no way she'll be able to get him out of there, only he could do that, so marvelously he signed all of their autographs in a fast forward motion and like a bird liberated from a cage, he spread his wings and flew away from the girls…(hahaha, what an imagination.)

"Sorry, Kaedecchi…I got overwhelmed." Kise said as soon as he walked up to her, panting, he was catching his breath while his hands leaned on his knees for support.

"Sorry too…" Kaede bit her lip and Kise looked up to her curiously. "I kinda used you…"

"Eh?" She pointed towards the plaza's direction and Kise saw Kasamatsu with her sister, _Just like the other time._

"Sis's classmate is a fan of yours so I kinda told Matsu-nii that you'll be coming with nee-chan if he's not coming, He got quite nervous but he showed up, I'm sorry I wasted your day, but I wasn't really sure you're coming."

"Tch, Kaedecchi, that's rude." Kise pouted and Kaede bowed apologetically, but he looked at her knowingly. "But seriously, I never thought you're a hardcore masochist."

"Huh?" _Masochist? Yeah I was when I met you…_ "What do you mean?"

"You like Kasamatsu-senpai, right? And yet you're helping him win over your sister's heart. You are so kind, Kaedecchi, but you're probably grieving inside, You just cried last time."

"Huh? What?" Kaede heard what he said but she just want a confirmation.

"Come on, I know you heard me… I know you're in love with Kasamatsu-senpai."

"Pfffttt…" Kaede laughed at him. "You think?"

"Kaedecchi…"

"All this time you thought I like Matsu-nii?" Kaede laughed again causing Kise to frown at her. _Well, It's better than if he finds out I'm in love (was! okay? It's a 'was') with him._ "I'm not in love with Matsu-nii."

"But you we're really sad last time and you're chummy with him, I honestly thought he can never stand girls."

"I'm not sad! I'm happy for them. Ever since I was a kid, I've always known his crush for nee-chan, but you were right about his apprehension towards girls, he did made an exemption for me." Kaede walks with her bicycle, not feeling the need to ride it yet since Kise was also strolling beside her.

"So? You were just helping them?"

"Yes." Kaede beamed at him. "I guess this is it though…I'm sorry I wasted your time."

"Yeah, you should be, Kaedecchi!" Kise was again dramatically scolding her. "But since we're here, why don't we enjoy the rest of the day?"

Kaede's heart beat quickened _Say what? Is he asking me for a date? But looking at it, I'm actually the one who asked him out…and I never realized it but he actually came…so he wants to… but he knows I like Matsu-nii until this…Ugh! Stupid brain! Stop over reacting! _"Well…I'm heading to my ophthalmologist, because I'll pick up my contacts."

"Then I'll go with you there first. Is that fine with you, Kaedecchi?" Kise flashed his oh-so-ever disarming smile that could make anyone say 'yes' to him and so Kaede did.

* * *

"So?" Kaede walked out of the shop and Kise glanced at her. "Thanks for coming with me."

"Ohhh, you're really pretty without glasses, Kaedecchi!" She blushed at his comment and she can imagine herself looking like Matsu-nii right now. "Why'd you use contacts?" He asked and then the two of them started walking again.

"Well someone broke my glasses yesterday, my spare actually, but they'll break the one I use if I didn't think of this, I'd rather be ready than get into some accidents without my glasses."

"Who are they, Kaedecchi? And that's harsh of them." Kise sometimes has this comical childish expression that will want to make you forget your problems and go along with his carefree nature.

"Some people." She answered making him pout, but she's sure he'll be gloomier if he knew he's actually the reason why her glasses were broken. "So, where'd you want to go?"

"I-I don't have any idea actually…"

"Well, Do you want to go to the arcade?" she asked.

"Arcade?! Sure! That sounds really fun!" It was just easy to cheer up this boy, even before in middles school as soon as he heard Karaoke or playing video games he gets all hyped up not to mention when he started joining the basketball club. It was unexpected but she's the one who went along with him.

When they were at an arcade, he wanted to go to the shooting alley but she dragged him to the baseball cage since she said that was her specialty, he reluctantly follows her if she promised to join him in the shooting alley later.

"I play kendo so I can swing this bat well." Kaede said as she practices her swing in the bat. The machine shoots a ball and she hit it accurately, gaining the high score immediately.

"Wow! That's cool Kaedecchi!"

"Yeah! I'll get this stamp; I read on the entrance that if you get high scores on at least four games, you'll get one of those major prizes." She showed him a piece of a stamp sheet before she points the list of the major prizes. "I really want that big teddy bear though…" Kaede loves bears, especially Winnie the Pooh.

"Sure! Let's get to the shooting alley!" They went to the shooting alley and well, Kise made the shots, in 3 minutes he was able to shoot 50 balls, no miss, another high score that they had a stamp for.

"Let's go to that Zombie Arcade!" Kaede points out that gun shooting arcade. "It has a two player mode, wanna try it?"

"Sure…but aren't you scared of that?" Kise asked worriedly.

"Nope, Are you?"

"Of course not." Kise said proudly so the two of them gets one gun each and prepared themselves. "The high score is 250 kills, ready Kaedecchi?"

"Yup!" and so they started, they were doing well but midway, Kise gave up when earthworm looking villains came out, he told her he's not scared he just feels uncanny with their grime and slimy features, he was so lucky that she banned the half foot rule since he's behind her, trying desperately to hide from those ugly earthworm monsters, he was pitiful, seriously and Kaede held both guns feeling a la Lara Croft while shooting and luckily they had 255 kills.

They did a high five as the second to the last item was stamped, now they need just one to earn the teddy bear, Kaede was looking for a game.

"Tekken? Or those Arcade battles?" Kise suggested.

"No, they'll take too long because you have to survive a lot of rounds." Kaede answered. "I'm not good with the racing ones."

"Ahhh! I know what to do Kaedecchi!"

"What?" Kise points at something and Kaede looked dubiously at him. "DDR? Are you nuts?"

"You'll see." Kise then positioned himself there, the song was the theme song of sailor moon, he told her he once got the highest score with this song so he picked it up, when he stood there and gave her a thumbs up, he really looked like an idiot, but oh well… if this is his plan, she'll let him bear the shame alone.

However, instead of shame, he got fame (not that he don't have that already). He really got the moves accurately, like he's the one who made the choreography and so comically, the children went to watch him, haha, she was itching to take a video but he's already exposed, and he won the last stamp, so the teddy bear she was yearning to have is now in her arms.

"Told you, I'm good at that Kaedecchi, Isn't it nice? You have that teddy bear. What will you name it then?" Kise asked.

"Ahhh? Winnie." She answered.

"Winnie? But Winnie's not a bear, he's a Pooh." Kise said and Kaede's eyebrow rose at him.

"What?"

"Well, It says Winnie the Pooh…even if he looks like a bear. So he's not a bear, because they could call him Winnie the bear, if he's a bear, right?"

"Winnie the Pooh is a bear." Kaede told him, annoyed. "Don't you ever say he's not a bear or I will hit you with my sword the time I get a hold of it."

"Okay. Winnie the Pooh the Bear, that sounds awful, Kaedecchi."

"Shut up. He was called Pooh bear!"

"Is he even a 'he' you know he doesn't have the…" Kise made a gesture of 'the lower part'.

"All of them don't have that part!" Kise laughed at her irritability when it comes to denying Winnie the Pooh's real speciation, anyway he saw a karaoke stall and then stopped in front, and he used his thumb to point it to Kaede.

"Let's have some Karaoke fun!" Kise exclaimed.

"Ok! You'll be surprise, how well I do in Karaoke." She said, so the two of them went inside the Karaoke with Winnie.

Kise was surprised, Kaede wasn't kidding when she said she can do well, she has a nice voice, like really, a nice voice, she can probably sing in a contest and win but, she can sing well and follow the lyrics well but she can't score higher than him, she doesn't know the techniques apparently.

He has an average voice but he has high scores, who cares about voices if he can pull it off with a 100, it's all about the songs, haha! Kise looked at Kaede who's getting aggravated with her low scores.

"Are you cheating?!" Kaede asked while hugging Winnie. "Tell me."

"Of course not, Kaedecchi. Haha." Kise chooses another song and then started singing and he gets a hundred again, Kaede gave up eventually and decided to play the maracas and do a duet with Winnie or Kise. Eventually both of them got tired, Kaede wants to go home but Kise said he'll treat her to a nearby Yakinuku shop, she checked her watch and sees how early it is, she agreed.

However, when they got out of the arcade they had another problem, Kaede checked the whole parking lot, her bicycle is missing, Kise, carrying Winnie, was helping her but she was sure she parked it near the entrance.

"Hey! That's my bike!" Kaede points to a guy wearing a bonnet who was currently dragging her bike along, when he saw her pointing him, he rode the bike and pedaled fast, Kaede chased him. "Wait! My bike!"

"Kaedecchi!" Kise called and he had no choice but to ran after her, he was faster, of course, so he went ahead of her throwing Winnie to her, When he cornered the guy, Kise told him to return the bike, but the guy resisted he got a hold of a baton, however the bonnet guy saw other citizens approaching, of course, Kaede too so he left the bike and ran away.

"Are you alright, Kise?" Kaede said retrieving her bike. "He has a stick."

"Ahhh?" Kise laughed at what she said. "I have one too."

"Not that, idiot." She blushed, she pulled her bike and tied Winnie at the end part of it. "I'm the one expert in Kendo, I'm good at protecting myself using sticks than you are using a ball." She said then they started to walk again to the Yakinuku shop, Kise was referring.

"I'm just curious, Kaedecchi…How'd you met Kasamatsu-senpai?" Kise asked as they walked the subway.

"We were neighbors since Elementary." She answered. "I liked traditional sports since pre-school because I like sengoku period shows, but I get bullied most of the time because I tried to wield a sword but I fail miserably, it was also another factor that I got poor eyesight that led them to tease me a lot."

"Ohhh?"

"Then he came up one time and fends off the bullies, imagine how scary he is when he hits them then he walked with me home and I wanted him to be my big brother."

"I can imagine him kicking the bullies away. I feel them, Kaedecchi." Kise rubbed his back, and Kaede nods at him.

"I know right? Sometimes he pinches my cheek brutally; I feel my skin falling off." They stopped in front of a train station. "You'll ride a train home, right? I'll head on that way." She points the road across.

"Yeah, Thanks for the day, Kaedecchi." Kise said "Let's do it again sometime." Kaede waved a hand at him and rode her bike.

Kise watched her retreating form and smiled, it has been a long time since he had fun like this, the last time will be his time in Teiko with the team when they weren't that conceited yet. Kaedecchi's really funny and nice; she's also pretty, though sometimes he thinks he already met her earlier (?). He's probably developing some feelings for her, he won't deny that and it was actually a relief to know that she's not into Kasamatsu-senpai, he just hopes she can feel the same too, soon that is.

_Yup...Let's definitely do it again sometime..._

* * *

A/N: Aloha! Sorry for the late update, Sorry for Kise's OOCness and I really wanted this to happen, for months I've been reading FF's about him getting into dates but you see we have our own imaginations...hahaha...I even read the replace novels, he's the character who knows about Momoi's infatuation for Kuroko...hahaha, he's cute at that... !_!

I made a drawing of my OC, I'll probably post it next time :)


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: It took me a lot of time to upload... Hope you like it :)

* * *

**Part XI**

When the Interhigh for basketball started, Kise has been a floating student, he's been in and out of classes because of their matches,but that was just the preliminaries; when the Interhigh proper started, Its been a week that the whole team was excused, it could have been longer but they lost to Touou.

Kaede watched as the basketball team entered the court with dreadful faces, Interhigh quarter finals, that's the time they got eliminated. The interhigh competitions for Kendo is close, that's why they have been practicing hard too, they just called it a day and Kaede was about to head out of the school and then she saw the saddening scene in front of her.

"Kaede." She looked behind and saw their captain, Yuuya-senpai. "Where are you going?"

"Captain." She bowed but glanced again at the basketball team.

"Are you going to talk to Kasamatsu?" He asked, and Kaede looked at him, bewildered. "I see you talk to each other a lot, so I figured you're friends with him, after all he doesn't have good conversation histories with girls."

"Just like you, captain." Kaede said in a low tone, snickering.

"What?"

"Nothing. Anyway, I'll be meeting with him first. " Kaede once again bowed and then ran off to meet with Kasamatsu. She walked towards the court and peeked, it seems that he's still speaking to the basketball team albeit scolding. She smiled and decided to talk to him sometime.

Kaede went back to the dojo to check on her captain, she thought he wants to talk to her a while ago, however, seeing that she's the only one there, Kaede left and went out again, this time she's sure to go home, but when she looked around for a while, she noticed someone near the set of drinking faucets.

No one will mistake that striking blonde hair for anyone, she thought especially when he's dribbling a basketball, though the rhythm of his dribbling's a bit erratic and his head was down. Kaede was about to turn her back on him, she doesn't want to talk to him at times like this, nonetheless, when she glanced for the last time she saw his eyes, he really is depressed, her feet stopped their tracks and she remembered the time he listened to her, she sighed and then walked towards him.

Kise was blaming himself, of course it was his fault, even if Kasamatsu-senpai said that it wasn't, he knew it was because he's still incompetent in facing the other Kiseki no sedai, he gripped the ball he was dribbling and placed it beside him.

"Yoh?" He glanced behind and saw Kaede approaching. "Uhmm...Are you okay?"

"Kaedecchi?"

"Bad time?"

"No! If its Kaedecchi, it's not a bad time." He grabbed the ball and stood up. He forced a smile at her, but she knew that it was a facade, like what she does at times.

"Frustrating, isn't?" She said, that caused Kise's smile to falter. "You don't need to hide it, I understand."

"I guess I'm that readable too, am I?"

"No, you're not... I just know what happened." Kaede said. "Can you come with me for a second?" She smiled.

"Eh?" Kaede walked ahead of him and he followed, feeling curious as to where she'll lead him, suddenly they were inside the Dojo. "What are we - "

"Here." She hands him a kendo sword. "Come here." He followed her while holding the sword.

"What to do with this?" He surveyed the stick.

"Hit this." She points the training log. "Consider this as a payment."

"Payment?"

"Remember that time in the train." Kaede said. "If you have regrets, frustrations and you can't do anything about it, just vent it on this log. You know...just hit it like this is the one causing your stress...it'll feel redeeming, trust me."

"Okay." He tapped the sword to the log. "Like that?" And Kaede raised a brow at him.

"This is Kendo, not drumming." She said and then reached for her sword, she made a stance, her left foot forward, both hands holding the stick and her arms raised up to her shoulder, "This is for Kise, the most annoying boy in school." Kaede hits the training log, hard, that it caused it to reverberate.

"Kaedecchi's mad at me? That's scary."

"Not really, Haha." She laughed. "Try it then."

"Okay." Kise exhaled and then moved slightly backward and then copied Kaede's stance. "This is for Kise!" He bellowed and then hits the log. The way it trembled made Kaede see that his hit was a lot stronger than hers. "Its your fault." He hits again. "Useless ace!" Hits again and again and again then the training log was dislodged from its attachment, making it roll on the floor.

"Ahh! I broke it, Kaedecchi!"

"Yeah...you did." Kaede watched it roll over.

"Ehhh?! Oh no! What should I do?" Kise asked frantically.

"No worries." She kicked the log towards the supply room. "It'll be fine, they'll just let that be tomorrow, you'll see."

"But that was cool...it really relieved my stress somehow..." Kise smiled, a real one. "I appreciate the effort Kaedecchi."

"No problem. You did the same for me before, so I just want to return the favor, but I heard everything you yelled..." Kaede walked up to him, but still maintained a legal distance between them. "Don't blame yourself."

Kise retrieves the ball he was playing with earlier and then slumped on the floor, his finger served as stand for the ball while his other hand tried to whirl it. "But it is my fault."

She remembered their Teiko days, she's certain Kise will not remember her but at times when she'll hang around with the other fans to watch him, she sees how easy it is for the GoM's to place blames at each other, maybe Kise's not used to not being blamed? She's not aware with the whole game, It's probably because of the fact that he knows he did something wrong but instead of getting the blame , he still holds their trusts, maybe he's frustrated and he wants to redeem himself.

"I'm not really sure what happened..." Kaede sat beside him and he glanced at her. "But blaming yourself won't be good for you and for your team. Some of the time you'll spend sulking can be used to better yourself, and besides, Matsu-nii believes in you and that's his choice, you might've been arrogant and flaunted about how you will lead them team to victory but that's still Matsu-nii's choice and everyone to put their trust on you, that's why no one blames you and they know how great you are, you'll get higher, don't worry."

"Kaedecchi~" Kise sobbed. "That's awesome." He wiped his flooding tears, and was reaching out to her but her hand was pushing his face away.

"Eww...Why'd you have to cry at such a trivial matter?"

Near the entrance, Kasamtsu was there, a slight smile was on his face, at least talking to that idiot about such matters have been lessened.

* * *

"Kaedecchi!" Kaede was surprised, and what she was carefully doing was disrupted.

"Kise!" She angrily called him. "Look! Its pink now! It was supposed to be salmon pink!" She was doing some acid titration using the burette, she was aiming for the latter color but since Kise suddenly called her, she exceeded the drop she was putting.

"Huh? It's still pink? What's the problem?"

"It's supposed to be lighter than this, it has to be salmon pink." She sighed.

"Lighter... then let's add that clear water." Kise reached for the clear liquid Kaede was dropping, despite her protests, and he dropped a large amount, suddenly the pink got darker. "Oh? Shouldn't it be lighter after dilution?"

"Ugh, we're titrating not diluting, and this is not water its acid." Kaede sighed, he is stupid, remember that. "I got no choice...I have to repeat this again."

"We will repeat it, I've done my part anyway!" He whirled a purple colored liquid in a beaker at her. "See? Got it for the first time."

"I should've got it done too, but you ruined it, oh well..." she explained it to him and then they did the experiment together, they finished in time, Thank God...And they were dismissed for lunch break.

"Oh yeah! Kaedecchi?" Kise called again making her almost jump.

"Yes?" She was done packing her bags so her attention was all his.

"Here's a Pooh-strap for you!" Suddenly Kise showed a Winnie-the-Pooh phone strap, and like the reaction he was aiming for, Kaede's eyes widened and sparkled, her hands snatches the thing from Kise, astonishing the male. "That's...fast."

"Thanks..." Kaede said as she marvels at the phone strap she instantly reached for her phone and placed the strap there. "Pooh-strap!"

"I got that as a freebie from a convenience store, I remember Kaedecchi has an unhealthy obsession with Winnie the Pooh the bear, so I give it to you." Kise winked at her but she might've ignored that since she was all eyes to her Pooh-strap. "So...as a payment, you'll eat lunch with me today, right?"

"Why will I pay you? You just got this as a freebie." Kaede smirked.

"Ahhh! Kaedecchi..."

"See you later." Kaede bid goodbye and left him again, she eats at the rooftop because not a lot of people go there.

But since Kise is very popular with a lot of fan girls, Kaede never escaped the eyes of such rude flock of gals. Unbeknownst her, they already noticed her closeness with Kise and they consider it a threat to their chance with the model, right now, they are thwarting a plan to get her out of the picture.

A few minutes after dismissal, Kaede went to the rest room before she heads to the dojo, she gets inside a cubicle and did what she's suppose to do, she heard several ladies giggling enter the rest room, Kaede didn't mind however she heard something lock and when she tried to push the door, it won't budge.

"Serves you right, flirt!" One of the girls said, Kaede was forcing the door but its no use.

"Hey! Open this up!"

"Na ah! Spend the night there, you conniving bitch!"

Kaede had a good idea who were doing this. "Open this up! What - " before she can continue a splash of water cuts her from speaking. "The hell!"

"Good bye..." the girls went out of the rest room leaving Kaede there, the janitor will be back tomorrow, that's bad...Kaede will miss Kendo practice and she will freeze here at night with wet clothes.

The girls went back inside the classroom, still giggling but they saw Kise talking to some of the boys in class about games, again they showered him with their gifts of love and everything.

"Ahhh, thanks." Kise smiled, (it was so hot that it may cause falling panties).

And then they gave him space again. "Good thing that slut's not here, she'll do well in that cubicle." He heard one say. He sighed, even though this girls flock together, some other time they will eventually break apart and bicker with each other, they probably ganged up on another member he thought.

* * *

Kise passed by the dojo to check if Kaede's being scolded for the broken log, He peeked in his usual hiding place.

"I'm pretty sure, Kaede was the one left here yesterday." One of the senpais said. "She broke the log, you know that girl when she trains...she's deadly."

Kise laughed quietly as he listens_ Yeah, right...She's deadly, talk about receiving the hits personally._

"I know, she's never the type to skip practices, I wonder what happened." Yuuya asked.

_Skip? _ Kise noticed the ebony head is not in sight, it really is impossible for her to skip practice, since she's dead set on winning the Kendo interhigh. _Where is she?_

Kise went back at the court, however since a group of his fans were watching, he waves at them and then received a flying kick from his captain, Kise rubbed the hit part and was crying at his captain but he was given another kick again.

"Owww..." Kise stood up, when he sees Kasamatsu's already sociable, he spoke. "Neh captain, have you seen Kaedecchi?"

"No...Why'd you ask?" Somehow a flash of concern was visible for a moment in Kasamatsu's face.

"She was in class earlier but she didn't attend their Kendo practice today."

"How'd you know that? Are you sneaking out of practice?" Kasamatsu turned angry again and Kise tried to smile it off but he was kicked in the butt again. When Kise was back in the court for the practice game. Kasamatsu texted her sister, asking if Kaede was home.

_She's not yet here, I know she have Kendo practice. _Kasamatsu read the reply and pockets his phone, somehow he's being curious as to where that girl went to.

After that game, Kise gets his phone and tries to call Kaede, but there was no answer, either she didn't have her phone or there's no signal in the place she is in right now.

Kise was having this strange feeling of worry, he can't fathom why but he feels restless, after their practice, he showered and changed to his uniform, as he steps out of the locker room, he remembered what the girls said earlier.

_Good thing that slut's not here, she'll do well in that cubicle. _Kise didn't know why, but he dashed towards the first year floors and stormed every girl's bathroom. When he reached the last one, he saw that its locked, they probably locked the whole room to avoid other people entering.

"Kaedecchi?" He knocks, maybe she won't hear from the outside so he went to the guard and asked for some spare keys, the guard lent him and he ran towards that bathroom, he was successful in opening it. "Kaedecchi?" He called again.

"Kise?" Success! She's really here, he opened the cubicle and saw Kaede there, she was sitting on the closed bowl slightly shivering while...

"You're answering the manual?" Kise wanted to laugh. "You're locked here and you're still doing that?"

"Well...I tried to bust the door but its to no avail, my phone's out so I can't call anyone, so I figured that I need to finish this instead of sulking since its due tomorrow."

"Seriously, Kaedecchi...I'm awed at your fighting spirit. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm - achoo - " Kaede covered her nose before she closed the book. "Ugh...seriously, they didn't need to splash some water."

"Here." Kise removed his jacket and then wears it to her and she blushed wildly, her heart thumped faster especially since, he liked...hugged her while placing the jacket to her shoulders. "You'll probably end up in a cold."

"Yeah..." she sniffed slightly moving away.

"Aww...maybe you have a cold already, your face is all red." His hand was supposed to feel her forehead but she stopped it midway.

"I'm fine..." she said and reached for her bag.

The two of them walked out of the first year floors, Kaede asked how he deduced where she'll be (she didn't expect him to be the one to find her, with his brain and all that), Kise told him about his sneaking in the Dojo, about the girls and how he figured everything out.

"I was really worried when you're not answering your phone." He said. "I know you don't really answer my calls nor my texts but I'm just worried."

"Thanks." She said, not looking at him, she was afraid he'll see right through her 'cold' facade, but in reality blood was rushing through her face because of him, they continued chatting, lucky for them both had seats at the subway train.

"But seriously, why would girls do that to you?" He asked but then he realized, Kise frowned as he knew. "Because of me?"

"Yeah...so you better get away from me." Kaede answered, leaning her back on the seat.

"Harsh! And after all the trouble I did to find you."

Kaede laughed at him. "I'm kidding...but you know...they do that because they really like you. At first glance its dirty but that's how they deep they'll go for you."

"Sometimes I'm amazed at your sudden speeches."

"Well...I didn't do that but I liked someone to that extent too." Kaede said. "You'll know that when you liked someone."

"I actually like someone..." Kise said while his head hung low, Kaede felt quite mortified to hear that. She shouldn't but she does. "But she doesn't like me...What should I do, Kaedecchi...?"

"Does she know?" _This is actually killing me..._

"I don't think so...how can I let her know?"

"Well, You treat every girl the same way...maybe you need to show her that she's a lot more special than the others." Kaede forced a smile, honestly she hates this conversation.

"I think I'm doing that..." Kise frowned. "How about you, Kaedecchi? Do you still like that someone?"

"Yeah...I do." _And I'm talking to him right now..._

"Does he know you like him?"

"I don't know...probably...I've liked him since middle school." Kaede stared at front. "I won't lie but I got attracted to his physical attributes at first...then I got to know him."

"So?"

"He's stupid." Kaede grinned. "Well, yeah he is, but he's kind, funny and sweet, however, he's way out of my league."

"Why so Kaedecchi?"

"He's popular and I'm a nobody." Kaede looked at him. "And I accepted that fact so I'm trying to move on, after all you did say that a love where one can only look at the other person is really futile, though I hope someday..." Kaede stopped talking when she saw Kise's tears flooding.

"Kaedecchi...that is so heartbreaking...I wanna die with your story." Kise was as over reacting as he is all the time and he wiped his tears using his arm. "But did you tell him?"

"I tried, a lot of times, but I end up failing, after all he's not even glancing at me." _And now that he does, I've decided to forget him and I got the liberty to know that he likes someone else._

"Who is he, Kaedecchi? I'll beat him up." Kise said, it was so funny he looked like some kind of a shoujo hero wannabe. "Kaedecchi?"

"Haha." She laughed _Beat yourself into it..._ "Forget about it, Mine is futile now, let's try to save yours then." She smiled.

"That...Kaedecchi..."

"What? Don't worry, you can charm any woman, so maybe she'll just need a little push."

"I don't think so...after all, she just said she still likes someone, maybe I'll wait for her to forget that guy completely." Kise smiled.

"I never knew...you can also have such problems."

"Of course, I can't please everyone." Kise glanced at her. "Sometimes the people who you want to get closer are the ones who ends up being distant...Maybe If I was given a chance earlier, I'll choose her more than anything else."

"That's really sweet." Kaede wants to disappear, If only those words were meant for her... "That's going to be my stop." She stood up when she heard the next station being announced but suddenly Kise grabbed her arm, her heart skipped a beat... "What is it, Kise?"

"Ahhh...Can I borrow your chem manual?" He smiled and Kaede frowned, she rummaged her bag and slammed the book at Kise's head. "Oww!" Nonetheless, Kaede laughed.

"Of course...What am I thinking..." she wiped a tear from laughing, she actually imagined him telling her that she's the one he likes. She didn't notice that Kise's still holding her wrist, he gripped it tight suddenly and she looked at him again.

"I will wait until she forgets that guy." He said and Kaede smiled at him. _He made it clear...I should forget about Kise._

"Don't worry, someday she will like you." She bid goodbye and went ahead.

* * *

A/N: Hihihihi :) Comments (not harsh one please ^_^)


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: took me so long for the update...whew... I'm beginning to love my med student life...but it doesn't love me back, unfortunately...^_^

**Disclaimer:** So...In this part, this is purely my imagination, slight reference with the anime storyline (and of course only Kaede and the members of the Kendo club belongs to me, The whole KnB and its plot, Kise, Kasamatsu and the other BB members of Kaijo, are not and will never be mine :]) The Winter cup's not yet starting in case someone just wonders and...I'll focus on Kaede's career as a Kendo prodigy, wahahah...(PS: I'm going to Japan! and I'm going to study Kendo or just look at it to make everything here ideal, after all, I just knew Kendo from videos and Mangas... so if ever there are mistakes...forgive the poor novice me :))

I really love sword wielding girls, hahaha, I hope I learn that too (Hahaha, got in love with Arden Cho from Teen Wolf) Anyways...Enjoy :)

* * *

"It's time to move on." Kaede stared at the stack of Zunon boy magazines inside her room, she sighed and then grabbed one. "Let's have one last read before you meet your doom."

She opened one and stared at Kise's photographs, if only she could be that woman who can make him in despair like that... She reread his interview and a certain part captured her attention, she might've missed this part before.

_'My type of girl is one who won't tie me down...'_ Kaede reads the statement again, and she was somehow confused, "Won't tie him down?" She blurts. "Maybe he can't have the girl because he doesn't want to be tied down? Then that means he doesn't want commitments?"

Kaede got a lot more confused, _Man and their stupidity._ She reached for the long packaging ribbon and tied the magazines and placed them outside her room, tomorrow she will end whatever lingering infatuations she still have for Kise.

When she laid down on the bed, she remembered something, what happened to her in the rest room needs a resolution, so Kaede decided she needs to do something regarding Kise's fan's club, she glanced at her Kendo stick and smirked.

The next day...

"Kaedecchi!" Kise was always loud and Kaede made a mental note to bring some earbuds next time, she was worrying about the stability of her eardrums. "You'll never believe it...my manuals already have answers!" He exclaimed pointing his now 'magically' completed manual.

"Good for you." Kaede snickered but she's perfectly aware why such things occurred.

_"If you want him to stay away from me, which is what I would want also, you must do his chem manual, after all he's always following me around to copy my assignments..." _ The next day after the girls trapped her in the rest room, she talked to them, they won't come with her but she had this idea of carrying her bare Kendo stick over her shoulder, which made them follow her.

"And there are also some cute bookmarks...ooohhhh..." Kise marvels at his manual and that was a good time for Kaede because he'll never stop adoring his mysteriously answered lab manual.

* * *

"Everyone!" Kaede's head whipped towards the direction of their captain, he, the vice captain and coach were all walking towards them, the members gathered around.

"You all know about the vice captain's pending scholarship. He has been accepted so he'll study abroad." The coach said that and all cheered for the vice captain.

"We'll be needing a new vice captain and I have chosen..." somehow they weren't paying much attention until... "Kaede Hinowa."

"Ehh?" Kaede blinked three times trying to register what their coach just said.

"Yes, Kaede-san…I'm appointing you as vice captain." He repeats. Their vice captain, the team's 1st player has to retire early because of the scholarship abroad. So therefore, the coach is anointing a new vice and suddenly Kaede heard her name.

Kaede was shocked not only was she a first year, she is also a girl. Yes, she may have been able to contain herself in a regularization match and had replaced the 3rd player of the team despite such flaws, but she never expected such promotions, this early.

The whole team was quite surprised, Kaede sighed, they were all kneeling on the wooden floor but she can feel stares of other senpais already closing on her, and she can actually hear them murmuring, 'why her?'

"Sensei…I don't think…"

"I agree with whatever sensei says." Yuuya, their captain said. "Team!" they all stood up, Kaede looked around and saw some of her senpais talking, _This'll be a worse week._

* * *

"Sensei? I need to know why I am the one picked as vice captain." Kaede asked their coach while inside the faculty, he was stacking some papers and then faced her.

"I've read your files, started Kendo since elementary and currently have obtained the rank of 4th Dan, also did Iaido since your 6th grade, I honestly overlooked all of these and have just read them all when I was choosing a vice captain. So I have decided to pick you, I have asked Yuuya's approval and he did."

"But I don't think the other senpais are glad with that." Kaede said with concern.

"Then you should prove your worth to them, when you were placed as a regular you did it when you beat Mitsuo, so I believe in you." The coach dismissed her, despite of his lack of answers.

Kaede went out of the faculty and was surprised to see Yuuya-senpai in front of the faculty room. "C-captain?"

"So you met with sensei? I figured you'll ask why you were chosen." Yuuya said. "He told me your credentials, I was quite surprised, you don't look like a person who has such a rank in Japanese martial arts."

"Oh…Thanks, senpai. But I don't think that's enough to get the senpais to agree." Kaede answered.

"Don't worry, they'll warm up to you." Yuuya tapped her back and left, while Kaede frowned, there's no way they'll warm up to her, talk about men's stupid egos, she knew that very well because of her Matsu-nii. Knowing that she can't do anymore with this matter, she decided to just focus on practicing since the Kendo Inter high's nearing.

"Oi Hinowa!" She was walking lazily out of the campus, when Kasamatsu saw her, he called her and the girl looked up to his direction. "What's wrong?"

"Matsu-nii? You don't have any practice?" Kaede asked as Kasamatsu approaches her.

"We've finished a while ago. What's wrong? You look clueless." Kaede stopped walking so that Kasamatsu can reach up to her. "Nah…You always look like that anyway." He smirked and ruffled her hair.

"Ahhh! Matsu-nii, Stop! Stop!" Kaede pulls his hand away from her head. "Seriously!" She tries to finger comb her hair, which she was able to do anyway.

"Heh. But what's the matter, really?" The two of them continued to walk towards the exit.

"Nothing." Kaede answered, feeling irritated at him for ruining her hair. "Crazy."

"Tch. You can't fool me, Hinowa." Kasamaysu said in a somewhat serious tone. "You gotta tell me."

"Nothing~" Kaede singsongs. "I'm fine, No need to worry."

"So you'll tell what's bothering you if I'm Kise, is that it?" Kasamatsu teased.

"What?!" Kaede looked at him incredulously. "Of course not…I'm not really having any problem…anyway, It really isn't at the least." She grinned.

"So you do have."

"I'll probably tell you if…" She points to a nearby convenience store. "You'll buy me a Mauibo."

"Tch. Okay I get it." He said that but he did go inside the convenience store. While Kasamatsu is buying the popsicles, Kaede was checking the magazines displayed outside. "Oi!" Kasamatsu got out and gave the other popsicle to her.

"Thanks." She said and started eating.

"So?"

"I was picked as the vice captain of the Kendo club!" Kaede exclaimed. "And then…I don't think the other senpais like that, I don't want to be the vice too." She pouted before nibbling a part of her popsicle.

"Ohhh…Is that it? I don't think it's a problem then."

"I know you'll say that. That's why I told you it's nothing." Kaede threw the popsicle stick on the trash and continued to walk towards the subway with Kasamatsu. "I'm just afraid of added responsibilities."

"But sometimes you see, this added responsibilities are the ones that keeps you strong." Kasamatsu smirked as he remembered something. "I told you about the time when I almost quit the basketball club? When I failed at scoring a ball and lost to Touou?"

"Yeah I know…then you got appointed as the Basketball club's captain?" Kaede said. "Honestly, they made a grave mistake when they did that." She laughed and Kasamatsu pinched her cheek roughly."Oww!Owww!"

"Then they made the wrong decision about you too."

"I know they did…Heh. Because you talked about the Touou incident, I remember how you cried last week! I was secretly watching inside the house while you talk to nee-chan!" She said and Kasamatsu's face turned ruby. "You even have a snot."

"Hinowa!" He hits her in the back of her head, this time.

"Owww..." Kaede rubbed the back of her head. "But... why'd you mention Kise?"

"Kise, huh?" Kasamatsu smirked. "You think I won't know? Aren't you both from Teiko? Yet you act like you just knew each other..."

"Well...for the record, we've been classmate since 1st year middle school, and he doesn't even remember me."

"What?!" Kasamatsu knew Kise's a fool but he'll probably remember a classmate he had for three years.

"I don't plan on telling him though." Kaede said. "I just want things to remain like this."

On the other side of the road Kise, Moriyama and Hasegawa were walking home, Moriyama was actually pestering Kise about a goukon, the latter wanted to get one for them anyway.

"Hey, isn't that captain?" Hasegawa pointed Kasamatsu. "He's with a girl. Oh! Cap's with a girl!"

"He's with a girl?!" Moriyama checked and was really surprised.

"He's even fine, talking to her."

"Who is that? Is that the girlfriend, he's embarassed to tell us." Moriyama said, Kise looked too, since he knew who the girlfriend is, however he felt slight annoyance, when he saw who Kasamatsu really is speaking with, he can't actually tell what he feels, but Kise feels really annoyed when he saw Kaede laughing with Kasamatsu, sure they're childhood friends but he can't even make her laugh like that, if she will, she will get totally embarrassed and will hit him with anything her hand touches. The two didn't notice Kise and the lot so they just went ahead.

"I never knew Kasamatsu likes younger girls, she looked like a first year." Moriyama nudged at Kise but he was just looking. "Oi?"

"Huh?!" Kise was surprised. "What was it again, senpai?"

Moriyama sighed, "Nevermind... just tell me about the girls that are coming on the weekend."

* * *

Kaede noticed a somewhat hostile environment when she entered the Dojo, she knows the hating aura is being exudated by her senpais, so instead of her head held high as usual she was looking at her feet and is confined with the first years.

"Kaede!"

"Captain." Kaede bowed when she was called by her captain. "Is something the matter?"

"Yes, you should practice with the other regulars." He said and then left again, she frowned and she moved to the regulars place, it was composed of all her senpais and they're all males. She exhaled, she had no choice anyway.

After practice, Yuuya told her to tell one of her senpai that today's their duty of cleaning the Dojo. She went up to that certain group of senpais and said that. However, she was replied with a 'You think you can boss us now' 'You do it, vice.' Seriously, they left her alone in the Dojo.

"I really got no choice at this." Kaede said and decided to clean the Dojo alone. She gets a wet mat and was about to start to wiping the floors until she heard someone enter.

"Kaedecchi!" It was Kise, he removed his shoes and left them before the entrance and walked up to her, He's already wearing uniform. "Heh. I thought a group is required to clean the dojo?"

"Yeah…But you see, My senpais are mad at me so they left me alone." Kaede started mopping on that spot. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing, I passed by and saw you alone, Kaedecchi." Kise grinned. "You need help?"

"No, I'm fine, you can go home." Kaede turned her back to him and continued to wipe the floor, but Kise walked up to her. "What?" she stopped on that spot.

"Give me another mat, I'll help, I hate to see Kaedecchi in distress." Kise grinned and Kaede threw the wet, dirty mat at his face. Kise removed it quickly. "Kaedecchi! You're going to give me pimples!"

"Tch. Such a vain man." She smirked and went to the supply room to get another mat and then washed it in the bucket of water she brought a while ago. "Start on that end, so that we meet halfway, okay?"

"Sure!" The two of them started wiping the floors (as in the conventional way of cleaning, where the cleaner has her body bent and cleans the floor by running while wiping). They met halfway, so the two of them sat there for a while, panting. "Kaedecchi, Why are the senpais mad at you?" Kaede answered with a shrug while staring at the floor. "Oi…" Kise nudged her shoulder and she glared at him.

"Because they picked me as the vice…" Kaede frowned again. "I just wanted to play and best myself in Kendo…"

"Tch…The senpais here has that huge complex, right? The 'I'm older here, I'm the boss' principle. Trust me, Kasamatsu-senpai has instilled that into me." Kaede laughed at Kise's annoyed expression.

"Matsu-nii just values respect…You seem to get along with him, anyway." Kaede said as she stood up, she picked up both mats and then placed it to the bucket of water and placed them outside the Dojo. "Thanks, Kise, you can leave me now, I'll be fine alone."

"Why? Aren't you going home yet?"

"I still need to clean the _Shinais_." She said as she goes to where the wooden swords are placed.

"Shinai?" Kise follows her to the supply room and then he saw the swords with names on it, the armors they put that are all neatly stacked inside. "Whoa…like a samurai…"

"Not really." she started wiping one.

"Ehhh! K-Kaedecchi! Look!" Kise pointed at something and Kaede looked below, she saw a long, slender, flesh colored thing that's slightly moving. "It's an earthworm…You have an earthworm here." Kise went behind Kaede and she wanted to laugh at his weird antic, but he really made it clear that he despise those slimy creatures. "What?! It's disgusting…"

Kaede sighed, slowly with the use of a stick, she pokes the wormy creature below, however, it's not a worm, suddenly a main black hairy big rat appeared, and apparently the wormy thing is its tail. Kaede cringed, and Kise felt her jolt.

"Uh? Kae - " He was stopped midway.

"It's a rat!" Kaede bellowed, she hauled Kise as the rat moved and comically, this time she's the one who hid behind Kise, she stood on a nearby pedestal, her hand grasped his shoulders and as she tries to see the rat, she unconsciously leans her chin on his shoulder. "Ahhh! Why isn't it going away?!"

"You're afraid of rats, Kaedecchi?" Kise looks at his side and was quite amused to see Kaede bearing a scared expression, _How cute. _He thought, He was distracted for a moment as he watched her, she hid behind his shoulder, _M__an_, this is a time for him to show off his 'Knight in shining armor' side. "Ok, I'll get it for you Kaedecchi!" He grabbed a stick but Kaede stopped him. "EHh...?"

"Hey, I just cleaned that! Don't use that!"

"Huh? And what am I gonna use to take that rat away?"

"I don't know...just - Ahhh! It's running towards us!" Kaede pulled Kise roughly, her hand grasping his shoulder tightly, like her life depends on it. The rat was actually terrified with her shriek that it went out on his own.

"It's gone." Kise said and Kaede peeked with one eye, seeing the coast is clear, she breaths out and released her hold on Kise. "Pffft...that's really funny Kaedecchi, I never knew you're afraid of rats, I thought you don't have girly phobias because you wield your sword very well."

"Shut up, even Elephants are afraid of rats, you know?"Kaede moved away from him and went down the pedestal. "Everything's clean now. Let's go." Kaede quickened her pace and went out of the supply room and then the dojo. _Ahhhh! That's so embarrassing! _

Kise pondered, she really avoid him at times, He shook his head to brush away those thoughts "Wait for me, Kaedecchi." Kise called and run up to her.

* * *

Kaede walked with Kise, he was talking about a photo shoot he'll be attending sometime next week but he noticed that her mind was out, he knows maybe she's still bothered by the thought of her senpais despising her.

"Neh, Kise...have you been hated by your senpais?"

"I wouldn't say 'hate', disliked maybe before, but I think I proved myself to them." Kise said proudly.

"Well, they probably didn't hate you for your prowess, they could've disliked you because of your attitude." Kaede joked and laughed at him.

"That's not true!"

"But you really are good in basketball, I remember ..." KAede halts, right...she doesn't want any memory from her middle school life. "Matsu-nii said you're good."

"Really?" Kise's eyes widened and Kaede nods, smiling at him.

"Well for the record, you're amazing too, Kaedecchi." Kise replied, surprising her, she have heard before that he use -cchi to people he acknowledges, so maybe he do acknowledge her, or he really just placed that suffix on her name. "While I was walking around the school, looking for places, first time I saw you with a sword...I think that's a practice match, you look like a cool kick-ass, samurai, hahaha, kidding, I was imagining it like that."

"I was wearing a head gear, idiot." Kaede said.

"Of course, I watched until you removed your head gear." Kise remembered then, he really did want to know who was under that armor. "You look really cool." Kaede blushed, her heart pounded faster and she looked away to hide her embarrassment.

"Well... Some say what I do is boring. But thank you."

"I think you'll be a good vice captain!" Kaede glanced at him with a 'You really think so?' look and he nods eagerly. "Especially if you grew up under Kasamatsu-senpai's tutelage."

"Ha! I knew you'll say that, I guess I really need to prove myself..." she breathes out and then they passed by the basketball gym. "When I was younger, Matsu-nii will take me to a nearby kiddie court and will ask me to shoot a ball, he was trying to be a coach but I don't really like basketball so I didn't obey him, but he made me try it anyway."

"Really? How?" Kise looked at her curiously.

"He draws a face on the ball. It looks really ugly that I want to throw it away." She laughed at the memory.

Kise then grabbed her wrist and dragged her to the court, he was sure nobody's there because the practice ended early, that moment they walked towards the balls. "You have some markers, Kaedecchi?" He asked, Kise just had this urge to cheer her up so he thought, maybe this could help. "Let's do that!"

"What? Matsu-nii will kill you."

"Hey, we learned in chem that markers can be erased with alcohol." Kise smirked feeling smart for a moment.

Kaede stared at him with a look of ridicule. "I didn't learn that in chem, I knew that even before chem and I taught that to you so that you can correct the wrong mark you did."

"Geez, Kaedecchi, can you let me be the great one for a moment?" Kaede shrugged at him but a smirk was on her face.

"Hey... Are you really sure?" Kaede asked again but she already rummaged her bag to get some markers. "Yup, I have." Kise grabbed a ball and handed one to her, then he gets a marker and scribbled on the ball.

"This ugly?" Kise showed the ball, and Kaede looked at him dubiously, the ball had two eyes and a smiley face.

"That's not ugly, Kise... we were drawing fangs back then. That is smiling."

"Ohh? So its cute? Hmmm." Kise stared at the drawing. "Maybe this'll be you, Kaedecchi." He was saying that to refer to her as being cute, but maybe she took it the wrong way that she looked at him with disdain.

"So you want to throw me away? Harsh." Kaede said, hands on her hips.

"Of course not, you know what I want to do?" Kise had some weird idea, his mind was already telling him that he'll regret this, but oh well, closer, he held the ball towards his face and was about to kiss it, Kaede was almost realizing what he's doing until...

"Kise! What are you doing here?" Kise and Kaede were startled, and the one that yelled was none other than, Kasamatsu. "Hinowa?"

"Matsu-nii?" Kaede was surprised.

"Oi, you clean that ball!" Kasamatsu kicked Kise on the butt causing the blonde to cry waters.

"Sorry, Matsu-nii, we thought no one's here, we're about to go anyway." Kaede was like talking to the air as she sees Kasamatsu ignoring him and sadistically kicking Kise.

* * *

Kaede was again alone in their practice, she kind of expected that since her senpais still had some hatred towards her. The captain noticed that so he walked towards the supply room and got some shinais and armor then, he walked towards her, his arm stretched out giving her the other shinai he was holding, Kaede stared at his hand.

"Captain?" She asked, somehow all the other players stared at them.

"Let's have a match." Wide eyed, Kaede stared back at Yuuya, who offered the kendo stick again.

"Captain? N-now?"

"You heard me." When he said that, he threw the shinai at her and she reluctantly caught it.

Kaede stared at the sword and then at her captain who's already gearing up.

* * *

A/N: I really like girls who can do martial arts! wahaha..I enrolled myself on MMA to lose weight and I came to love it... I'm sorry if this came out as the typical story...but I'm writing my heart out sometimes...but thank you for stopping by and telling me your thoughts... and another thing...I was supposed to edit the previous chapters...but it took me really long and the 90 days deadline for keeping the file in doc Manager expired, so I needed to upload and write that again...so Edits are delayed!

My English is bad, It's not my first language, not even my second (:P) I know...I'll take English/ Foreign language tutorials on our summer break... So I hope I improve myself :)

-Note: the part with Kise was kissing the ball! I got that from a picture and he really looks handsome in that :)


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: OMG... it was so long before I have decided to continue this story...I've been preoccupied with other series that I have forgotten how things will go hahaha. But I do love Kise, so I never forgot about him and my love for him, anyways, school took me away from my social media accounts... Med school is killing me...

Anyway, I failed to study Kendo... just went roaming around Japan...sucks, so I had no idea how to make a fight scene and this is a bit af OOC for Kise...sorry

* * *

"_F-fight you? B-but captain? – " Kaede picked up her shinai and stared at Yuuya, who was prepping._

"_As my second in command, I need to know how you can fare with me." Yuuya threw a head gear at Kaede, which she picked up. "Come on now. Show me what you got."_

"_This'll be good!" Kaede heard one senpai talk. "At least if she can't do well, all of us will know."_

"_Sheesh, why was she chosen? Just because she had dispatched one starting player."_

"_Just some friendly match, Kaede." Yuuya said with a smile before he put on his head gear. He said it in a tone that only she could hear._

"_Yes!" Kaede knew it was her captain's way of supporting her and showing their other team mates that she's more than capable to be the vice captain of the team._

_She got herself ready then, after wearing her armor; she reached for her head gear and looked around. 'I really don't want to show them… but I guess this really is necessary.'_

* * *

"Oi! You've been grinning like an idiot, ever since we got here." Kaede's imagination was stopped as she felt Matsu-nii tap the back of her head.

"I'm not."

"You are… So, mind telling... what's with Kise?"

"K-Kise? Nothing's with him, what were you thinking?" She cleared her throat. "He uhhh…just helped me clean the dojo yesterday."

"Really? Why is he the one helping you,though?" Kasamatsu's arms crossed at his chest. "Still not good with your team?"

"Oh that – " Kaede grinned and was about to tell Kasamatsu but –

"Yoh, Vice!" As if to answer his question, one third year student, which he knew was in Kaede's club greeted her. "See yah later!"

"G-good morning, senpai." Kaede bowed her head and the senpai bid goodbye to her.

"Whoa… I thought you said they don't like you." Kasamatsu, said while watching the kendo player ran towards his group. "Don't tell me that guy – "

"Oh well, I kinda did something…" Kaede scratched the back of her neck as she was reminded of the memory.

"What?"

"Uhmmm… Show off?" She said, not knowing the right word to use.

"Looks like you'll have some explaining to do." Kasamatsu ruffled her hair and she glared at him. "That and some certain blonde."

"Blonde…Oh…" She blushed.

* * *

Kise was almost late in class, his sister stole his alarm clock last night and that caused him to wake later than usual, luckily their chem. teacher was also late. On his way, he was greeted by multiple girls in the hallway, he even smiled at one of them (the girl fainted), however, he was stopped as he saw one girl inside their classroom.

_If you are this ball… then… _He blushed as he remembered, he kissed the ball, it was embarrassing. _But she was cute yesterday… _

"Mornin' Kaedecchi~" He greets as soon as he sits beside her.

"Hi." Kaede greets and it surprised Kise to see her smile at him, it is rare actually, usually she'll just blurt out 'Hi' without even sparing one glance at him.

"Whoa…" He noticed her different vibe, of course. "Something amazing did happen. What is it?" Kise nudged her shoulder.

"Nahhhh… It's nothing actually."

"You wouldn't feel that way if it's nothing." Kise pouted.

"Eh? Why'd you say that?"

"Well… You seem to be in a good mood." Kise rests his chin on the palm of his hand as he stared at her. "Come on, you gotta tell me."

"…"

"I know! You're probably in good terms with your team now." Kise said with a bright smile. "That's what's been bothering you last time, I'm happy for you then, Kaedecchi~" He was again violating her space as he tries to hug her and she comically hits him with her chemistry book.

"Oh right, Thanks for yesterday." Kaede said. "You really helped me."

"Yup…Saved you from the rat." Kise teased and she sneered at him.

"Don't sound so proud! You were squealing like a girl when you thought it's a worm."

"That's fine, I really hate worms." Kise grinned "But you… you were so cute Kaedecchi~"

"C-c-cute?" the kendo player blushed furiously. "That's silly; I would've fended off that pest if I wasn't caught off guard."

Their teacher came after a few minutes and she was carrying some papers, suddenly Kise remembered that their proficiency exams are coming and those papers were probably their scores from the midterms. He cringed as he remembered how poorly he performed in chem. To prove his dilemma, his world almost shattered as he receives his paper.

"Kise? Are you alright?" Kaede asked as she noticed Kise spacing. She then glanced at his paper and she instantly understood why he is making such a face.

"Kaedecchi~"

"I guess you'll do well… in the next exams, perhaps?" Kaede didn't look convincing at all, Kise knows that, he actually got a 25/100 score in chemistry, and yup it adds to his failing scores from other subjects.

"Ugh…And this happens now that winter cup is coming." The blonde looked at his seatmate who's staring at her paper. "How about you, Kaedecchi?"

"Oh…I'm fine I guess." She hid her paper, which piqued Kise's interest a lot more.

"What's that Kaedecchi? You know it's fine if you have a failing grade too, after all I…" Kise checked her paper and stopped. "You got 88!"

"Ahhh… yeah, I told you, I like chem.."

"B-but…88, you got only have 12 mistakes, Kaedecchi~ that's cool…and at the same time quite depressing."

"Well… you should do your best or else they won't allow you to play in the winter cup games."

"I know. This sucks." Kise slumped. "My other subjects aren't promising either."

"I only did well in chem." She said trying to cheer him up.

"At least you got one well." Kise sighed and buried his head on his arm.

* * *

"Oi, Kise..." Kise was twirling the ball, but he let go of it when he heard Kasamatsu-senpai call him. "I need to ask you something."

_Is he going to scold me again?_

"I heard that you failed most of your subjects last midterms." Kasamtsu said sternly, arms crossed. "You know that you're not allowed to play if you fail the proficiency exams."

"Ack! Yeah...Hahaha...that's - " Kise was again trying to charm his way off but, Kasamatsu kicks him in the shin. "Senpai!" He cried.

"For you to participate in the winter cup, you need to at least make it to the top 100 or else you'll spend your time in remedial classes rather than practicing." Kasamatsu scolds him.

"Ok. Ok." Kise stood up, when he was about to go, Kasamatsu kicks him on the back, causing Kise to stumble on the floor again. "Owww! What's that for, senpai?!"

"Kise." Kasamatsu called his name seriously, making Kise remove his comical expression. "I forgot to ask but what were you doing with Kaede here, yesterday?"

"Wha – Nothing! We were just talking about how you taught her to shoot?"

"Really?" Kasamatsu raised a brow at him. "So… "

"Well, Kaedecchi's really cool and all so – "

"Kise, I'm telling you, she's not like any kind of girl you can just flirt and leave, I will hit you until you die if you even have the slightest idea to do that. I know how you feel and that's - "

Kise's head bowed, his eyes were hooded but his lips were curved in a smile, causing Kasamatsu to be more annoyed at the blonde but he stood up, revealing a serious face. "If you know how I feel, senpai...then you know that I'm very much serious." Kise said and continued to go out of the court.

"What happened?" Moriyama asked as he saw the scene occur in front of him.

"Nothing. I just told him to take his studies seriously." Kasamatsu replied as he watched Kise left.

* * *

He went to a nearby cafe, tried to read some notes but gave up he wore his earphones and listened to some music. "So I got to get in the top 100…Ugh…It sucks." he stretched out his legs and looked out of the window.

_"Oh! I remember some lucky item, Midorima gave...I wonder if he still have it." _ Kise fished out his phone and then dialed some numbers, he called many times but the call was rejected a lot of times. _KUROKOCCHI, WHY?! _

Kise walks out of the cafe when he noticed that the number of girls is increasing, he decided to just go home, however, he saw Kaede on her way to the bookstore, the blonde decided to meet up with her. She was on the pen section, choosing some pencils and markers.

"Kaedecchi?" Kise called and she looked up to see him.

"Kise? What are you doing here?" Kaede asked, partly surprised to see him. "I saw Matsu-nii just a while ago, he's still in the court."

"They cast me out! Say...Kaedecchi, can you help me study?" Hearing his request, she had a good idea why he was 'cast out' possibly by her Matsu-nii.

"I can't...I can pass but I'm afraid I can only manage average ratings, you'll need someone better to teach you." Kaede turned her back on him and continued choosing some pencils. "If you want though, I can ask Matsu-nii to - " Kise grabbed her shoulders suddenly.

"No! Anyone but Kasamatsu-senpai! I will have brain concussions before the exam even starts!" Kise pouted. "You got 88 in chem…"

"I told you chem's the only subject I did good... I'm not the right one to help, though..." she said. "How about?..." she smirked and then dragged him back to school.

* * *

"So Kise. She's Mayu-chan, my friend." Kaede showed a pretty girl which Kise greets. "She's one of your admirers." She whispered to him, and Kise looked at her curiously.

"Ki - Kise-kun!" Mayu-chan bowed.

"Hey, Mayu-chan..." Kise glanced at Kaede. "So?"

"She's really good at her studies and I asked her for help, which she agreed to do because she wants to help you, right, Mayu-chan?" Kaede gave a thumbs up at Mayu-chan and the girl eagerly nods. "We only have at least a week to study, so she'll meet with us in the library. Fine with that, Kise?"

"Well, of course." Kise happily replied. "Thanks, Mayu-chan."

"N-No problem." Mayu-chan said and then excused herself.

"I told you that you can charm any woman. You can ask help to girls like Mayu-chan, you know? Instead of just receiving some sweets, why don't you ask this kind of help?" Kaede said.

"Heh. That was quite embarrassing." Kise scratched the back of his head.

"Well then, let's go home." Kaede said and it surprised him, for the first time, she's the one who said that, usually, she doesn't want to go home with him but right now, she just said that. Kaede looked behind and saw Kise rooted on his spot. "Kise?"

_Am I improving? _Kise thought as he stares at Kaede. "Sure..."

Kaede suddenly blushed; she realized that her invitation went out of the blue. "Sorry, ummm…If you have somewhere –"

"Nah, I need to stop fooling around, I need to go home and study." Kise said scratching the back of his neck. "Can't let our efforts go to waste."

"That's good if you think that way." Kaede smiled at Kise, she mentally sighed because she still expects something from him, even though she knew he has someone on his mind already, she walked a bit faster.

"So? Mind telling me what happened with Kendo club?"

"It's a long story."

"Well, We have a long walk to the station, another long ride until your stop. We have all the time."

"Let's just say, I showed them what I got." She proudly said. "But it is mostly thanks to my captain, Maybe he realized that I really have a potential to be his vice and he just helped me prove it to the others."

"How did he do that?"

"He asked me to have a match with him." Kaede grinned as she remembered.

"Wahhh…You won against him?"

"No, I actually lost to him." She answered, placing her hands at her back, slowing her pace but she wasn't looking at him, she was thinking about her match.

* * *

_Kaede did well defending herself but that last hit came unexpected and it's near her neck, she was caught off guard and because of the suddenness, she felt her sorry behind making contact with the wooden floor._

'_I lost' She thought, removing her headgear, while still on the floor._

"_Whoa…That's cool!"_

"_No one has ever stood up that long with cap, not even the previous vice…"_

"_Not to mention she's a girl."_

_Kaede whipped her head to where her senpais are, they were all talking about her, and how she probably 'gave a hard time to her cap' but she knows, that's not the case._

"_Can you stand?" She looked up and saw her captain. "That's a good job, you almost got me…"_

"_But you still won." Kaede sighed. "I knew you went easy on me…"_

"_Compared to the others, I went a bit overboard with you, still, you really are good." He offered his hand, Kaede accepts and he pulled her up. "Now… They won't speculate that I chose you because of personal reasons."_

"_Ehhh? Personal reasons?" _

"_Do your best, Vice." Her captain tapped her shoulder before he went to join the other members._

* * *

"Wow…he really said personal reasons?" Kise somehow looked annoyed as he tries to think of a personal reason the kendo captain might have for Kaede. They were on their way to the station.

"Yeah… but I think it's just a speculation because I heard the coach was the one who suggested me." Kaede said as she searches her bag for her card.

"Hmmm, but I know the coach will just choose possible candidates, the captain's still gonna pick his vice."

"Ahh… really?" Kaede pondered as she inserts her card in the machine.

"Don't you think that personal reason means… really…" Kise doesn't want to get to the point actually. "You know…personal?"

"Of course a personal reason is personal, really, Kise…"

"No I mean, personal relates to the person and uhmmm…" _If he meant personal…Is he interested with Kaedecchi? Urgh… Kasamatsu and her captain, she has some inclination with older guys…Seriously and both of them are good with hitting people, but I can probably catch up to them…nah Kasamatsu's onto Kaedecchi's sister, but he seems really close and he doesn't want me…urgh, why am I being frustrated with this…_

"Kise, stop over thinking whatever you are thinking." Kaede interrupts his thoughts, she noticed that he suddenly looked agitated,. "The coach probably had me as the only candidate, he seems to be aware of my love for martial arts, he even knew that I do Iaido."

"Iaido… that's cool! You got a real sword for that, right?"

"It's not a good one, besides I stopped Iaido since middle school, I focused on Kendo."

"You're so cool, Kaedecchi!" He said as the two of them rode the train. "Really cool, I'm seriously a fan of yours." The two of them were standing near the pole.

She blushed as he heard Kise say that. "W-well…uhhh…Thanks." She cleared her throat which caused her to let go of her hold on the pole. She knows her face is really heated right now, so she was avoiding any eye contact with him.

"Look! It's Kise-kun!" Kaede looked to see some girls waving at him. "Kyaaa! Kise-kun rides this train too!"

"Hi!" Kise said waving and smiling back at the girls. They were seated near the train door.

"Aww, Kise-kun, there's still some space here! You can sit here." One girl tapped a free seat beside her.

Kaede breaths out heavily, of course those were his fans and they look pretty, so he'll probably move to their side."Kaedecchi?" _Right…Of course he'll say 'I'll just go there and talk to those cute little kittens'…kittens…really, why are they called kittens, anyway?_

"It's fine you can sit with them." She said looking away from him, _So much for the happiness of having him as a fan…of course he'll say that to anyone. _

"Huh? I was going to – "Kise noticed that her good vibes before suddenly disappeared. "Are you alright, Kaedecchi?"

"Oh here's my stop." True enough she can see the station, that's her usual stop. "See you tomorrow." Kaede said flatly as she walks near the exit. _I really have no right to be jealous, even Kise said he doesn't want girls that tie him down… I still have no idea what that really means…_

While Kaede was spacing out, one of the girls that said hello to Kise feels annoyed that Kaede was being close with the hot basketball/model that they admire, and due to her annoyance she has this sinister plan to trip Kaede, the fan girl stretched her foot and since Kaede wasn't paying attention, she tripped, her body falling forward.

_Oh shit! _Kaede closed her eyes, she knew her head will probably hit the glass door or if it opened she'll be face first with the floor, but that's not what happened, she felt a strong arm on her midriff, pulling her close until she felt something hitting her back.

"Whoa…Kaedecchi, are you alright?" Kaede opened her eyes, she slightly moved her head to the side and she was welcomed with Kise's worried face that was mere centimeters away from hers.

"I-I'm fine…" She looked away from him, suddenly the door opened. "It's my stop…I'll go now." Her hand tried to remove his arm from her as she was about to move, but instead he let go and he held her wrist.

"I think you're not fine." the blonde said as he stepped out of the train, she followed because he was holding her wrist. "I'll walk you home."

"You don't need to do that, I can take care of myself." She said pulling her hand away from him. "Go back."

The train door closes and it continued to move, Kise pouted and points the train. "Can't go back, now, can I?"

"Go get a train back. I'm really fine." Kaede said as she turns around and started to walk, Kise followed though. "Kise! Go back now!"

"Why are you so edgy? And you were in such a good mood a while ago, Kaedecchi."

"Not really… It's just late, you should go home early to study, right?" She fidgeted. "And besides…"

"Besides?" Kise beamed at her. "Besides what?"

"Ugh…nothing, whatever…do what you want." Kaede gave up she can't really complain about those girls now.

"But why'd you trip though? Are you really alright? I mean you're a kendo player…shouldn't you have strong knees?"

"Its those girls…" She said in an almost inaudible voice.

"Huh?" Kise moved closer. "What?"

"I said those girls…" She glanced and saw Kise coming closer again, it made her nervous that it made her punch him, causing him to stumble down.

"Awwww! Kaedecchi!" Kise stood up rubbing his cheek. "It hurts."

"Sorry, that came out rashly."

"So…What about those girls?" Kise remembered which caused Kaede to stop walking.

"I said… those girls are probably expecting you to sit with them."

"Ah? I was going to ask if you want to sit, I'm not going to sit and leave you standing Kaedecchi, who do you think I am?"

"Oh…" _So he was going to offer that seat to me._

"Really, Kaedecchi, are you jealous?" That was a joke…but he realized, why did he make a joke like that. "Oh..uhmmm, that's…"

"I'm not jealous, Kise." She said, eyes still looking in front of her.

"I know, I'm just kid –"

"I have no right to be…" She said with her back faced to him, Kise suddenly ran out of words to say, well... what can he say to that… _A right to be jealous_, _Do you want to? Well…I'm pretty much, having some jealousy issues, a while ago… _"My place is near here, I'll be alright, bye, Kise" She glanced at him quickly and ran, leaving him speechless.

* * *

A/N: tomorrow's the next chapter, probably... probably...


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